A student came up with a greener alternative to plastic — algae water bottles! Design student Ari Jónsson from the Iceland Academy of the Arts created a water bottle that loses its shape and decomposes when it's emptied.

Jónsson combined red algae powder and water to create the gelatin-like substance. After heating the substance, he poured it into a bottle-shaped mould submerged in ice-cold water.

The sculpture was then kept in a refrigerator to harden before removing it from the mould. The resulting product is an algae water bottle that keeps its shape as long as it is filled with water.

When the algae water bottle is emptied, it loses its shape and begins to decompose.

"If it fails, or if the bottom is too thin or it has a hole in it, I can just reheat it and pour it into the mould again," said Jónsson.

The water inside the biodegradable bottle is safe to consume; however, Jónsson said that after some time, the water may extract some of the algae taste. The designer said that if consumers like the taste of alga, they can, by all means, eat the bottle itself after consuming the water.

The algae water bottle was displayed at the Drifting Cycles student exhibition held in Reykjavik, Iceland this month.

Plastic Bottles Hazzard

A recent study has found that water bottles with Bisphenol A-free (BPA-free) labels are not as safe as consumers think. In a zebrafish study, the researchers discovered that Bisphenol S (BPS) can disturb the reproductive system by speeding up embryonic growth.

"We saw many of these same effects with BPS found in BPA-free products. BPS is not harmless," said Nancy Wayne from the University of California, Los Angeles' David Geffen School of Medicine. Wayne is a reproductive endocrinologist and a physiology professor.

Last year, a study found that plastic will overpopulate fish in the ocean by 2050. These forecasts call for solutions on how to deal with the growing plastic pollution.

The new algae bottle can potentially lead to new products and can help solve the growing plastic bottle crisis.

Photo: Liz West | Flickr