#MuchCool: London Marathon Provides Edible Water Capsules To Runners

The London Marathon organisers replaced plastic water bottles with edible water bottle capsules.

By: Chandan Kumar |
May 1, 2019 3:22 pm

A regular sight at the end of any marathon is a pile of water bottles thrown away by the participants at a corner.The organisers of London Marathon, however, decided to do away with that. Wondering how?

The organisers of the event, held on April 18, replaced the water bottles with edible water bottle capsules. The marathon had 40,000 participants, covering a distance of 42km, and they were given the edible water bottles. The water pouches are made by Skipping Rocks Lab – a London-based startup that is developing alternatives to curb plastic usage.

We are at mile 23 Of London Marathon handing out Lucozade Sport orange in Oohos! GOOD LUCK to all runners! We can’t wait to cheer you all on!! Any of our followers who are running? #londonmarathon #VMLM #madetomove pic.twitter.com/sFdTTWRjIj

— Ooho! (@OohoWater) April 28, 2019

These water pods, called Ooho, are made up of seaweed extracts. The capsules are covered with a seaweed membrane. The membrane is edible and therefore can be swallowed. Even if the participants don’t want to it eat, they can be thrown away and takes just weeks to degrade, unlike plastic which takes hundreds of years to decompose.

According to the latest UNEP report, the world produces 400 million tons of plastic every year. It’s time we take a cue from them and act to reduce the menace of plastic pollution.