Photo Credit: @Cove / Instagram
According to a report by Cleantechnica, California-based startup Cove has created the world’s first fully biodegradable water bottle. The bottle, made of a substance called PHA, can break down over 200 times faster than plastic, making it a significant step towards combatting plastic waste.
The Cove bottles are created through a process of fermentation. Microbes turn a variety of products such as vegetable oil, sugar, and food into a polymer in their cells, which can then be extracted and made into PHA. During composting, the PHA is exposed to other microbes, which allows it to quickly break down.
While PHA is not the holy grail of biodegradability, as it’s unclear how long it takes to break down due to the countless variations of PHA, Cove estimates it will take each bottle between 1.5 and 4.5 years to decompose. Factors such as humidity, temperature, and weather also play a role in the breakdown process.
Cove’s bottles officially launched in Erewhon, a California-based organic grocery store, in December 2021. Founder and CEO of Cove, Alex Totterman, said, “By bringing a truly biodegradable alternative to plastic to customers and the industry as a whole, we can begin to reduce plastic waste in our communities.”
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Published May 10, 2023 2:57AM
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