Most big drinks brands switched to plastic from glass bottles in the 90’s. The reason is simple; they are harder to break, lighter and cheaper.
According to data from the latest Cicloplast report, 2,151 kt of plastic waste or plastic scrap is generated annually in Spain. Of these, 34% are being recycled, 17% are being recovered for energy and 49% are being landfilled.
These figures reflect that Spain is one of the leading European countries in the recycling of plastic materials (only behind Norway, Sweden, Germany and Ireland). However, it is in the queue for energy recovery of waste (only ahead of Bulgaria and Greece).
What is happening with this 49% of the plastic waste that is being generated?
Why something that is being used 10 seconds would pollute the planet for hundrets of years?
That was the question that the founders of Ooho! did.
They created an edible packaging for water, in order to launch a competitive enough product to avoid the use of plastic bottles.
The edible container is like a flexible, transparent bubble. The technique used is similar to “spherification” – popularized by Ferran Adrià – to wrap liquids with a membrane made of brown algae and calcium chloride.
What are the characteristics of this product?
- 100% made of plants and seaweed
- Biodegradable in 4-6 weeks, just like a piece of fruit
- Edible. It can be flavoured and coloured.
- Fresh. Shelf life of a few days.
- Cheaper than plastic.
Also, they are now developing this technology for packaging oil, that is biodegradable but not edible, resistant and non-drip!
In my opinion, taking care of our planet and developing ecofriendly strategies is one of the main points of the development, so this is a great innovation in the field of packaging to make our world greener!
The blog of Logistics at MGEPS at UPV 