How do you solve for an environmental issue like plastic bottles or pure water sachets? The fact is that people need water on the go but it comes with its attendant problems of how to dispose of the water containers – plastic bottles or pure water sachets.
The U.S. alone accounts for 5.35 billion pounds of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic a year, less than a third of which is recycled, according to the National Association for PET Container Resources, an industry group. The world’s track record is even worse, with an average recovery rate of 10 percent.
Different kinds of plastic can degrade at different times, but the average time for a plastic bottle to completely degrade is at least 450 years.
So how do we solve the problem of having water on the go without the water bottle? Enter Ooho!!
![water bottle](https://i0.wp.com/innovation-village.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/water-bottle.png?resize=708%2C531)
![Used pure water sachets](https://i0.wp.com/innovation-village.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Used-pure-water-sachets-1024x768.jpg?resize=708%2C531)
Ooho! is a an edible “water bottle” which is made of new kind of packaging composed of seaweed. This proposes an alternative to plastic bottles. The spherical water container is easy and cheap to make, strong, hygienic, biodegradable, and can even be eaten.
The consumption of non-renewable resources for single use bottles and the amount of waste generated is profoundly unsustainable. The aim of Ooho is to provide the convenience of plastic bottles while limiting the environmental impact.
Ooho! is a project of Skipping Rocks Lab, a London-based startup co-founded by Guillaume Couche, Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier.
![Co-Founders - Guillaume Couche, Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier](https://i0.wp.com/innovation-village.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Cofounders-1024x489.png?resize=708%2C338)
Skipping Rocks Lab is part of the Climate KIC start-up acceleration program founded by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT). Skipping Rocks Lab was recently awarded the World Technology Award (environment) held in association with Fortune and TIME.
Here is a video of Ooho. What do you think? Do you think this will replace plastic water bottles?