The fact that so many people nowadays are consuming plastic-bottled water is not good news for the earth. Plastic water bottle is one of the most worrying materials in the world. Not only because it is non-degradable, but also because the consumption rate is enormous.

Maybe every one of you have consumed at least one plastic water bottle this week. Most of those who usually buy plastic-bottled water is the ones who travel a lot. The reason is because it is very practical to use, even though it has great impacts for the environment.

We actually have several innovations to tackle the trend, such as BYOWB (Bring Your Own Water Bottle) movement. But this innovation we are going to talk about is different from any other innovations to tackle plastic bottle waste.

Here in this article we are going to talk about an almost impossible project to tackle plastic water bottle issue: paper water bottle.

A Million A Minute

How bad is the condition we are facing nowadays? Plastic bottle has become a staple convenience of modern lifestyle. Its availability and practicality to accompany people who travel a lot and keep them hydrated in this warming earth has become the main reason why plastic water bottle consumption is enormous nowadays.

Possibly, every country on earth has its own plastic-bottled drinking water mega company that produces millions every day. The fact is, according to a research, we are now consuming about a million plastic bottle every minute worldwide.

To make it sounds worse, you need to know that less than 10% of those plastic bottles are being recycled. The rest of them go to the ocean or being buried in the ground, and spend the rest of their 400-year lifetime to decompose into organic materials.

The number is predicted to keep on increasing too, and researchers predicted that by 2020 (basically next year) over half a trillion plastic water bottle will be sold. This is the emergency that we need to pay attention to.

More unrecycled plastic means more inorganic matters in our environment. Most of them will turn into microplastic that will contaminate any living being absorbing it. Everyone should realize the facts to avoid the worst possibility.

Child’s Dream

Water is one of our most basic needs to survive, and that’s why reducing water consumption is not an option for us. “But we are consuming too much plastic bottle,” some says, and yes that’s the problem with it.

But instead of reducing our water consumption, why don’t we just reduce our plastic bottle directly? That’s possible, actually, thanks to an innovation by Paper Water Bottle. Just like how the company is named, it produces water bottle made of paper indeed.

Paper Water Bottle is a fruit of a child’s observation, and a child’s dream comes true. One day, Jim Warner, a water bottle designer, was walking with his son, James. The child asked why his dad worked as a ‘trash’ designer, and that was the turning point for Jim Warner.

“What began years ago as a child’s innocent observation that all packaging and products are only ‘trash’ in the making has grown into a deep, socially conscious consumer megatrend. The facts cannot be ignored. And as such, we committed ourselves to find a better way,” the company stated in official statement

In 2009, Jim decided to start a project to change his kid’s view toward him by no more producing ‘trash’. Worked together with Dan Doster which is an industry leader in branding, pricing, marketing and management, they started the startup project of Paper Water Bottle.

Recyclable Me

Paper Water Bottle produces the water-sealing container by using pulp mixture of wheat straw, bamboo, husks, sugar cane, and bulrush. The pulp mixture might not a perfect seal to water, that’s why to seal the water, the company still uses recycled resin.

It means that the water bottle is 100% recyclable. However, the design allows the two materials used to make the product, the pulp mixture and the resin, are separable easily and the resin part of it is easily recyclable.

The company is working on using less and less resin to produce the product, because producing a recyclable product is not their main aim. Their main intention is to make 100% bio-degradable water bottle for everyone.

To prove it, they have reduced the use of resin in their products by 50% each from generation to generation. In example, the second generation used 40%-60% less resin that the first generation, while the next generation used half as much resin than the former generation.

The company keeps on finding a way to finally eliminate the use of resin. However, even with their current state, they have used much less non-bio-degradable material than conventional plastic bottle. Which means at this current state even if the whole world uses it as their water bottle, there will not be as much non-bio-degradable waste.

All Liquid Should Be

Plastic water bottle is indeed one of the biggest contributors to non-bio-degradable waste. However, what’s made of plastic is not only water bottle. Observe your surroundings, and you will find other kinds of plastic bottle.

Shampoo bottle, liquid soap bottle, baby powder bottle, medicine bottle, and many bottles made of plastic. The invention of paper water bottle is just the beginning of the change, since furthermore they will be able to replace all of those plastic bottles.

“Your packaging for shampoo bottles, soap dispensers, home cleaners, medicine, air freshener sprays, and more could be completely transformed from plastic into a compostable alternative,” the company stated in Kickstarter.

Globally, 80 billion plastic bottles are produced and used every year, while only less than 20% of them are being recycled. Most of those bottle went to the ocean, dissolving into microplastic, and poison our marine creatures.

The invention of Paper Water Bottle is one way to prevent further damage caused by such recklessness of human being. There are so many other ways we can do to save the nature. Remember, the company was started by a simple question that Jim Warner got from his curious son.

Sources:

https://materialdistrict.com/
https://www.kickstarter.com/
https://paperwaterbottle.com/
http://www.swedbrand-group.com/