Potato-based bottle from Tomorrow Machine is water resistant and disposable
The bottle created by the company Tomorrow Machine has a lifespan comparable to that of its contents, can be peeled like a fruit, is waster resistant and disslovable.
Together with the juice firm Eckes Granini, the Swedish design studio Tomorrow Machine created the biodegradable GoneShells bottle, which is made of potato and may be consumed, composted at home, or submerged in water after use.
https://www.vinnova.se/en/p/goneshells–biobased-degradable-packaging/
Although Tomorrow Machine has prior experience working with research organisations and developing novel materials for the packaging sector, this is the first project in which it has started the creation of a packaging material from the ground up with the intention of producing it in a wide scale.
This Too Shall Pass Project and GoneShells
The studio’s This Too Shall Pass project, which it completed little over 10 years ago, served as the inspiration for GoneShells.
According to Tomorrow Machine creator Anna Glansen, this meant developing “edible packaging with a limited shelf life comparable tot he food it contained.”
It was never meant for production despite the creation of several prototypes because of the “high material prices and intricate production procedures,” she continues.
The packaging for This Too Shall Pass experienced challenges, but a number of businesses showed interest in it and recognised tis potential. The studio decided it would try to create a substance with comparable qualities but at a lesser cost and with fewer hassles.
GoneShells is the outcome, which in Glansen’s words, matches existing packaging options in terms of price range by using raw materials and existing production processes.
With an emphasis on its eco-friendly line of fresh juices and smoothies called Bramhults, Tomorrow Machine chose to collaborate with Eckes Granini in the early stages of GoneShell’s development, which started around 3 years ago.
The product’s success was largely attributable to the collaboration with a food manufacturer who could provide insight and “use the material for their goods.”
GoneShells’ goal is to breakdown in a short time instead of recycling
According to Maria Glansen, design director at F&B Happy, the studio felt it absurd that packaging lasts years or even decades whereas the material inside goes bad after a few days or weeks.
GoneShell’ central tenet is that it avoids the traditional recycling system by using packaging that lasts as long as the contents it contains.
Standard recyclable packaging might be one step in the direction of a circular transition, but Maria contends that it might not always be practical. She cites the lack of infrastructure for recycling or industrial composting in many nations.
Tomorrow Machine intends to decrease the environmental effect of packaging and stop it from ending up in nature, seas or landfills by creating a material that enable many breakdown ways in a short amount of time.
How does it function? GoneShells was influenced by the way a fruit’s skin provides protection in nature. The bottle’s spiral-like design makes it possible to win down in the same manner after use.
The waste can then be consumed, composted at home, or disposed of in a kitchen sink. One difficulty was creating a polymer that could readily and swiftly dissolve while also safeguarding the materials inside.
Tomorrow Machine created the container to have a biodegradable barrier that safeguards both the contents and surface of the packaging since it may degrade in water, Maria continues.
According to her, the water-resistant barrier must first be removed off the bottle before the breakdown process can start. This indicates that when it comes into touch with water, a reaction starts instantly, dissolving it in around 20 minutes.
The potato-based substance disintegrates over the period of 17 minutes in the time-lapse video. The initiative was funded by Vinnova, Formas, and the Swedish Energy Agency’s strategic innovation programme BioInnovation.
The Swedish RISE Research Institute and the branding firm F&B Happy contributed further knowledge. Other than the fact that it is made of potatoes and is manufactured using current methods, Tomorrow Machine is unable to disclose anything at this time regarding the production and material composition.
The continuing research project GoneShells has ambitious for future expansions and uses.
Source: BioInnovation
