Ooho edible water bottle: Thousands of heavy pods replace disposable plastic on London Marathon

Usually, the succession of a marathon is a sea of ​​plastic waste . But in an effort to make the event more sustainable, the London Marathon will replace thousands of plastic water bottles with edible seaweed pouches this year.

More than 40,000 people are planning to run marathons on Sunday. And they have a slightly different experience when they reach Mile 23 – Ooho forceps capsules instead of plastic bottles or cups . The capsules can be filled with a variety of fluids, but those supplied by the marathon will be filled with Lucozade Sport, an electrolyte drink.

The little gay men are made by the London-based booting rocking lab. They are designed to be both edible and biodegradable ̵[ads1]1; the seeds themselves are tasteless and, if not consumed, biodegrade within six weeks.

According to London Marathon Events (LME), marathons will be the largest ever sample of Ooho pods. More than 30,000 capsules will be given to runners on Mile 23, who can take them from volunteers and just bite down to loosen the fluid. According to Lucozade, the "experience is like eating a cherry tomato".

LME says it is committed to zero waste by December 2020. "We are passionate about the concept of Eliminating, Reducing, Reusing and Recycling and fully committed to reducing our environmental impact," said event manager Hugh Brasher. the best mass participation events in the world, and we will match it by leading the world in sustainable mass events. "

Managing Sustainability over 26.2 miles

Ooho pods is not the only way London Marathon seizes sustainability:

• The Marathon has introduced a closed object recycling project to collect bottles along route and return them directly to a bottle processing plant to be made into new bottles.
• There will be 19 drinking stations during the race, instead of the standard 26, to reduce plastic bottles by more than 215,000 compared to last year's run.
• Bottle belt made of 90 percent recycled material will be tested by 700 runners. "Encouraging runners to carry their own water has the potential to radically change how hydration is given by mass participation on an ongoing basis," LME said.
• Three stations will use compostable cups instead of bottles, which will be collected and composted after the race. "Drop zones" will be stationed across the course to improve the bottle cleaning process so that each bottle is recycled.
• Especially designed jackets for starting and ending races will be used by 500 runners to eliminate the need for personal plastic articles.
• Runners will get their race number printed when they come – instead of pre-printed – to eliminate the process for runners who do not make it to the start.

A number of other sustainable measures are being tested this year, including eco-efficient tower lights, garbage collection for wasted items, 100 percent recyclable bottles, digital running materials and elimination of godbags after the race.