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After three years in development, Skipping Rocks Lab has finally unveiled "Ooho balls" which are edible water balls that they hope will be the answer to cutting down our reliance on plastic water bottles.

The London-based start-up recognized the urgent need of cities all over the world to dispose of plastic bottles which take centuries to decompose. The edible water balls typically decompose between four to six weeks to disintegrate if unconsumed thanks to the membranes that are made up of plant and seaweed extracts, Reuters reported.

Skipping Rocks Lab was able to start the project after more than doubling their target of 400,000 British pounds (US $500,000) in just three days. Their main goal was to find and alternative packaging to plastic that can match the time the environment is going to decompose a material to how long a product was used. They found their answer in seaweed which not only is readily available anywhere in the world and edible, it also presented them the opportunity to have the balls locally made and avoid shipping them to reduce the carbon footprint in producing them, the Independent reported.

Skipping Rocks partners Pierre Paslier, a mechanical engineer and Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, an architect did not believe in creating another water brand and offered a new packaging technology instead. They envision their products as being used in races where runners are pretty much touch and go so cleanup after the race will not be a nightmare.

They also hope to bring their invention to large supermarkets so these market chains can produce their own edible water balls on the spot. The company is also thinking of looking into how to package alcohol this way in the future.

Also currently in the works are flavored water balls in low-calorie packaging. So now, not only is saving the environment cool and innovative, it is guilt-free as well.