Alternative To Plastic Bottled Water (VIDEO)

Plastic bottles have been a concern for many people for many years due to the adverse effects they have on our health and the waste they create for our communities. Only recently three Spanish students have managed to come up with a ground breaking solution to replacing plastic bottled water with a small water blob like container. They named their creation Ooho.

Despite the convenience of selling water in plastic bottles, it has harmful effects on our health system which many of us are unaware of. The actual plastic water bottles themselves are made using certain chemicals which harm the water we drink, especially if the plastic bottles have been exposed to the sun. Most of the time the consumer is unaware of how the water has been controlled. In addition to this it is a well-known fact that some bottled water contains fluoride, a substance that is detrimental to us. Apart from this, managing the waste of plastic bottles is becoming a serious issue, which over time landfills are becoming bigger and bigger, and oceans becoming plastic.

The Ooho, is a container which is composed of a gelatinous double-membrane. The idea first surfaced in the 1950's by Unilever a Anglo-Dutch Multinational Goods Company and is used in modern day culinary techniques scientifically known as "spherification." The membrane – which is made up of calcium chloride and a brown algae which formed around frozen water, basically encapsulating the fluid.

What makes the Ooho a much better alternative to plastic bottled water is that its:
1. Biodegradable
2. Edible
3. Hygienic
4. Cheaper
5. Can be made at home.

The Ooho costs around 2 cents and a bottle on average costs around 10 cents. So automatically the cost perspective is a lot more for bottled water. Even though plastic bottled water does carry a number of disadvantages it also serves as a source of convenient and healthy water for a lot of countries who do not have access to water, hence relying heavily on plastic bottled water.

I believe that plastic bottled water will take some time before it is removed completely from the shelves of shops, but until that materialises, a mix should exist of these types of alternatives serving specific end users.

The Ooho definitely has the right characteristics to solving the problems that plastic bottled water creates, in the meantime until this becomes more commercial we should try to avoid drinking water from plastic bottles where possible and to re-use empty plastic bottles for alternative purposes.