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Edible water pod packaging made from seaweed is reportedly being tested as a ketchup packet.
January 14, 2021
There’s a school of thought that the most source-reduced, minimalist packaging is the kind you can eat, i.e., edible packaging, a concept that's been around for a while. It's also the idea behind the Ooho “water bottle” that’s not a bottle at all, the water is packaged within an edible film membrane made from renewable, fast-growing seaweed.
You can either eat it package and all — which is the optimum, most efficient way to dispose of it, especially if you don’t mind a “chewy, crunchy texture” — or if discarded the membrane will biodegrade in a few weeks.
One of the suggested uses is for marathons or other long-distance running events that typically see athletes dropping plastic bottles where convenient. Granted, they’re going to have to drink (or is that eat?) several of the pods to match a bottle’s volume.
A sampling of the mixed review comments that were posted about the video:
“Super cool. Although it's clear that the use case for these isn't for all events needing water, I'm sure there are situations in which this idea will shine.”
“How about filling a glass, or similar reusable vessel, with tap water?”
“Yeah but how many do you have to eat to equal a bottle of water. And won’t these be sold or need to be carried in plastic bags. You can’t just walk around with a handful of these equivalent to a bottle of water. And what about Covid. You would have [to] sell these in a plastic bag so they aren’t contaminated. I have a feeling you can’t wash them if you buy them in bulk and use your own bag. You would have to use plastic anyway.”
“Will it comes [sic] with cola?”
More importantly, what do you think?
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