A water bottle you can eat

[MindMover]

Bottled water is an awful idea. The plastic takes a thousand years to degrade, it costs more per liter than gasoline, and their precious contents are easily available (and practically free) in many places. There are exceptions, of course. In the U.S., we use 50 billion plastic bottles a year. Environment-minded people have devised all sorts of alternatives to get consumers to use fewer disposable plastic bottles: from biodegradable packaging to artfully designed water fountains. Here’s another idea: Just eat it.

Ooho is an edible water bottle inspired by how droplets form. It’s flexible and has the texture of jelly, it's easy to bite into and apparently tasteless (though the consistency may take some getting used to). This watertight container was developed by Rodrigo García González, Pierre Paslier, and Guillaume Couche from the Innovation Design Engineering program through the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. Here’s their simple, two-step process, Smithsonian reports:

Dip a frozen ball of water into a calcium chloride solution, which forms a gelatinous layer on the outside of the liquid.

Then soak the ball in another solution made from brown algae extract, which encapsulates the ice in a second membrane. This reinforces the structure and thickens the mold.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/a-water-bottle-you-can-eat/

[AScott]

1. Doesn't exactly sound appetizing.

[Fridays Child]

2. But, if it's edible, it's also biodegradable.

Just toss it in the compost heap, right?

[MindMover]

3. EXACTLY ...

and I try to use these biodegradable bottles whenever I can find them ...

http://www.gizmag.com/go/3421/

[AScott]

4. That's certainly a plus, although it will be a tough sell if it's significantly more expensive.

[Fridays Child]

5. By the way...

Welcome to DU.

[wyldwolf]

9. which, of course, it will be - even if it doesn't cost more to produce

They'll target the organic food market customer who generally have more disposable income.

[Nay]

6. What's depressing is that we cannot seem to even approach the idea of

banning plastic water bottles.

Nooooo, that would mean some big corp would lose money! Or some lazy consumers would have to fill up some other damn bottle to carry some water!

So, we can't even consider it. We have to go around and around, thinking up edible water bottles at 6 times the price, etc., and completely ignore the sensible solution: ban plastic water bottles and tell people to buy ONE refillable stainless steel water bottle (or, FFS, carry a plastic Coke bottle for your stupid damn water). Oh, no. Freedumb!#%&**!!

[yurbud]

7. and bottled water isn't as tightly regulated for purity as tap water is.

[petson]

8. banning plastic bottles

I just want to say that governments must baned the plastic bottles, which takes very long time to dissolve, unique question asked by you.