Ooho, an environmental-friendly and entirely edible water container, is expected to hit the market in one year’s time. It is hoped that the product will be able to reduce the environmental impact of PET bottles by replacing them.

可食用的環保水球Ooho，可望在一年內上市，並可取代寶特瓶，減輕環境負擔。

The water container was invented in 2014 by Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, Pierre Paslier and Guillaume Couche when they were still university students. The material, made from seaweed extract, is edible and can be used to carry all types of beverage including water, juice and soft drinks.

這種水球在二○一四年由三名大學生龔薩雷茲、帕斯里耶、庫契研發，材質是可食用的海藻萃取物，裡頭可填裝各類飲料，包括水、果汁、汽水等。

The entire container is biodegradable. For those who do not want to eat the container, they can tear a hole in the container and drink from it, and it only takes the discarded container from four-to-six weeks to biodegrade.

由於整顆水球可生物分解。使用者如果不想吃外包裝，可以撕開一個小洞喝水，剩下的包裝僅需要四到六星期就可自然分解。

In order to promote the product, the research team has set up a lab in London called Skipping Rocks, where they are now working on improving the material and technology and are applying for patents.

為了推動產品上市，研發團隊在倫敦成立Skipping Rocks實驗室，近一步研究改進水球材質及製作技術，並申請專利。

The lab recently began an online investment round and attracted nearly 450 investors in just a few days, successfully reaching its initial goal of raising 400,000 pounds (NT$ 15,600,000).

實驗室前陣子上網募資，短短幾天內就吸引近四百五十人投資，成功達到四十萬英鎊（約新台幣一千五百六十萬元）的初步募資目標。

Although the price of Ooho is yet to be announced, it is expected to be relatively low, since the production cost is very cheap and even lower than plastic.

雖然水球的上市價格尚未公布，但因製作成本相當低廉，比塑膠還要低，預料最後定價不會太高。

Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2017/04/26/2003669402