PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are one of the most common recycling items today, and are now being used in a variety of ways, due to the low cost and durability of PET bottles, most are used as water bottles.

There are about 100 million PET bottles produced every day in the world, with about 2 million  bottles thrown away in the US every five minutes. Among them, only 20% of PET bottles are recycled and the rest are just discarded. The time it takes for plastics to decompose in nature is 50 to 80 years, which is a main cause of serious environmental pollution.

Recently, however, there have been products that have appeared as alternatives to these PET bottles. There is now a "Round Water Bottle" with water enclosed  in a thin film is called 'Ooho', three students from the Royal College of Art School of Design, were first invent it in 2014 and received the award at the Lexus Design Awards, are attracting attention as a package to replace plastics with hygienic and environmentally friendly water bottles.

Ooho has round shape and can hold about 250ml of bottled water in a thin membrane. The idea of this product came from a thin membrane wrapped around an egg yolk. They used a technique called spherification to make a thin membrane of balls.

Ooho's membranes are double-layered, and the outer membrane covers the inner membrane cleanly. This membrane is made of materials extracted from edible seaweed, so it can be consumed without causing any harm to the human body, it can also be spat out. Unused Ooho and dumped membranes are said to be biodegradable within  4 to 6 weeks.

The startup company, Skipping Rocks Lab, was aiming for £ 400,000 for a second crowdfunding to finalize the manufacturing equipment development, then it was £ 800,000 in just three days. They plan to use the remaining money to develop a second product that can replace wastes with natural materials. "What we have developed is not only environmentally friendly, but also cheaper than plastics. It will be noted as a futuristic water bottle to replace plastic." they said.

However, Ooho has a limitation, that it is difficult to carry and store, and that you have to drink it once it is blown. These limitations make it necessary to contain an adequate amount of water.  Company co-founder Pierre Parsley said "A few mouthful of water would be appropriate."

They said that using a "Ooho" at events that use large quantities of water bottles in a short period of time, such as festivals or marathons, could reduce environmental pollution from PET bottles.

In addition, in food trucks and cafés are planning to provide water to the customers with a 'Water capsule instant manufacturing machine'. The company have been hosting beverage events in London for the past six months and have recently been approved for coming into the market. They are currently negotiating the issue of  supplying water capsules to event providers such as Virgin Sport. From next year, they plan to supply Ooho to major events in earnest.

June, 10th, 2017. By Hwa Na Kyung.