Blunt branding tells you all you need to know about this product’s origins, history, purpose and thesis: boxed water is better for the environment and more cost-effective to boot.

Boxed Water is Better wastes far less space in shipping and allows flat-packed boxes to arrive on site to be filled rather than requiring full-sized but still-empty bottles to be delivered to the production plant.

Paper is naturally better than plastic as well, being easier to recycle and less harmful to the environment when people litter or otherwise improperly dispose of their waste.

On the shelves, the product really stands out against the competition, bold black text on a minimalist white background against the more colorful and complex designs associated with glass and plastic bottles.

While the most sustainable way to use water container is of course to employ reusable bottles, this at least provides a step in the right direction and a better alternative to plastic, particularly now that more and more cities are outlawing plastic bottle sales (smart business, too).

The post Boxed Water Is Better: Alternative to Plastic Makes Waves first appeared on Gajitz.

The Ocean Cleanup Project takes aim at the most dire accumulations of trash in the world’s waters: the huge floating ‘garbage islands’ where millions of pieces (and pounds) of non-biodegradable waste gather and swirl.

Unlike more expensive options, like actively dragging nets from ships, this low-cost solution would place floating structures and associated net systems at key places where garbage collects, and focus on the top few feet of water where most of it is found (and avoiding the entanglement of deeper sea life).

Developed by 20-year-old engineering student Boyan Slat, this solution is refreshingly pragmatic – rather than aim for the impossible (full cleanup would cost billions of dollars and take thousands of years), he has set his sights on making the most impact possible with a reasonable budget.

“The Ocean Cleanup estimates the cost of removing one kilogram of plastic at €4.53. This is 33 times cheaper than conventional ocean cleanup methods, while also being an estimated 7,900 times faster.”

Plastic finding its way into the realm of these arrays, each spanning tens of miles, would be pulled and sorted using the ocean’s own natural movements, then collected and removed in bulk by larger ships.

The post New System Sucks Plastic Out of Oceans 33 Times Cheaper first appeared on Gajitz.