Development of the automated Ooho! Machine - reducing single use plastic packaging for <100ml liquids, condiments and cosmetics through seaweed alginate membrane

**需求：**英国每年扔掉3500万个塑料瓶和容器，其中只有32%被回收利用。Ooho是一种独特的、专利的、天然的膜包装，由海藻提取物提炼而成。作为Ooho的开发者，我们的目标是通过开发、制造和推广这项技术，减少和取代一次性包装液体、酱汁和凝胶袋的塑料使用。**方法：**在完善液膜技术的强度、结构和保质期后，我们现在需要开发硬件机械，使供应商可以现场生产和填充膜-取代目前<100mL的液体（水、酒精饮料）、调味品（酱汁、沙拉酱）、凝胶（能量凝胶）和化妆品（洗发水、护发素）的一次性塑料包装。**意义：**我们的海藻酸盐材料作为输入材料比塑料便宜，但目前所有的ooh都是在伦敦总部半人工制造和填充的（每天100个），这意味着尽管有商业利益，我们无法满足需求或以具有成本竞争力的方式生产它们。作为我们长期发展战略的一部分，我们的目标是开发一种自动化机器（类似于咖啡师的咖啡机），在客户现场（餐厅、外卖、自动售货机或商店）大规模生产（每天3000只）Oohos，供应一次性液体。**重点：**与合作伙伴Lucozade Ribena Suntory（能量饮料和凝胶）和Vita Mojo（酱汁和沙拉酱）合作，该项目专注于克服与设计和开发一个独特的，自动化的客户机器相关的技术困难，每天生产和灌装3000 Oohos，不影响结构完整性或一致性，大量生产各种液体（能量饮料，凝胶，酱汁和沙拉酱）。**结果：**我们的海藻酸盐包装是天然来源，可生物降解，坚固（感谢以前的IUK项目），甚至是可食用的。唯一阻碍其采用的问题是它的制造，我们希望通过这个项目来解决这个问题，我们已经在我们的主要市场上有了一些备受瞩目的早期采用者。根据英国政府2025年的“塑料契约”承诺，通过发展规模化生产能力，海藻膜将与一次性塑料包装相比具有成本竞争力，使零售商能够替代塑料包装100毫升以下的一次性液体物品。反过来，这将节省大量的二氧化碳废物，降低运输成本和塑料生产，并使我们能够利用全球对该技术的兴趣，率先使用天然塑料替代品。

**NEED:** The UK throws away 35m plastic bottles and containers each year, only 32% of which is recycled. As developers of the Ooho - a unique, patented, natural membrane packaging derived and manufactured from seaweed extracts, our aim is to reduce and replace the use of plastic in single use packaging for liquids, sauces and gel sachets by the development, manufacture and roll-out of the technology.**APPROACH:** Having perfected the strength, structure and shelf-life of our liquid membrane technology, we now need to develop the hardware machinery so that suppliers can produce and fill the membranes on site -- replacing current single-use plastic packaging for liquids (water, alcoholic shots), condiments (sauces, salad dressings), gels (energy gels) and cosmetics (shampoo, conditioner) <100mL.**SIGNIFICANCE:** Our alginate material cheaper than plastic as input material however presently all Oohos are manufactured and filled semi-manually at our London HQ (100 per day), meaning that despite commercial interest, we are unable to meet demand or produce them on a cost-competitive manner. As part of our long-term growth strategy, our goal is to develop an automated machine (similar to a barista coffee machine) to produce Oohos at scale (3,000 per day) on a client site - either restaurant, takeaway, vending machine or in store - serving single-use liquids.**FOCUS:** Working with partner Lucozade Ribena Suntory (energy drinks & gels) and Vita Mojo (sauces & salad dressings), the project focuses on overcoming the technical difficulties associated with designing and developing a unique, automated, customer machine to manufacture and fill 3000 Oohos per day, without compromising structural integrity or consistence, in high volumes with a variety of liquids (energy drinks, gels, sauces and salad dressings).**OUTCOME:** Our alginate packaging is naturally sourced, biodegradable, robust (thanks to the previous IUK project) and is even edible. The only issue holding back its adoption is its manufacture, which we hope to address with this project, are we already have a number of high-profile early adopter lined up in our key markets.In line with UK GOVs 'Plastic Pact' 2025 commitment, by developing manufacturing at scale capability, seaweed membrane will be cost-competitive with that of single-use plastic packaging, enabling retailers to replace plastic for single-use liquid items under 100ml. This in turn will save considerable CO2 in waste, reduced transport costs, plastic production and enable us to take advantage of global interest in the technology, spearheading the use of natural, plastic alternatives.