So far so good: the creators of these edible water balls have begun deploying them at large-scale festivals, the kinds of places where hundreds of disposable plastic bottles are used and trashed. But while this type of innovation bodes well for the future of biodegradable design, there are still some flaws to be sorted out before it can begin to seriously tackle the big problem: 35 billion plastic water bottles tossed in the garbage every year.

Ooho!’s solution is pretty simple and ingenious: drop frozen balls of water (or other beverages) into a (thankfully) tasteless solution that forms a gelatinous layer around the outside. Once the ice melts, drinkers can pick up and pop a gulp, or if that seems too strange: puncture the membrane (which then biodegrades in weeks) and drink from it. Made of seaweed, the “container” layer can also be colored and flavored.

Between crowdfunders and other backers, they have a lot of funding behind them, and “the team at Skipping Rocks Lab—made up of chemists, engineers, designers and business advisors–are continuing to pioneer the use of seaweed in other packaging uses, with a mission to become the leading global producer of seaweed-based packaging.”

The whole process uses a lot less energy than normal bottles require, but does it serve to replace them? In pop-up settings, like festivals and sporting events, it could — especially if the machinery used to make them can be made mobile. But for ordinary everyday use the problem is trickier — the membranes are delicate and would pop if tossed into bags or pockets.

Still, the science is worth pursuing: the same method could be expanded to make more robust and larger frameworks (better analogs for ordinary bottles). And the technology could be improved to, made to create and dispense water balls on a more mobile and automatic basis in public-event settings (e.g. ball-vending machines). For now, it isn’t the invention to end plastic bottles some might hope, but it is a step in the right direction and — at least in limited contexts — makes for a sustainable drinking alternative.

Curling up with a glass of wine with a story has never been easier thanks to Librottiglia, a project that wraps printed pages around bottles of Italian reds and whites.

Each wine is paired with a specifically selected literary short intended to match the characteristics of the vintage with an appropriate genre and narrative. Drinkers are encouraged to pour a glass then pour over the pages of a unique tale.

Designed by Reverse Innovation for the Matteo Correggia winery in Italy, each 375-ML bottle is good for two glasses and an absorbing literary adventure. The covers in each case double as both book titles as well as wine labels and descriptions.

A piece of twine wraps the book to each bottle while the words themselves are printed on a thick paper stock to round out the stylized packaging. Stories include The Frog in the Belly, I Love You Forget Me and others by journalists, humorists and mystery writers.

“Today we read books on computers, tablets and mobile phones,” note the creators. “Why not on a bottle of wine?” they ask. “After years of discussion about analogue vs. digital, we want to propose an alternative: oenological” (meaning: related to the cultivation and study of wine).

Connoisseurs may look to artisanal naming conventions when selecting their brew, but some of us (like books via covers) judge beers at least partly by their colors.

A Spanish design agency named Txaber has matched brew types with Pantone hues to create a collection of color-coded labels, providing sneak peaks to potential drinkers.

Thanks to the recent comeback of the can (versus historical preferences for bottles), these might just make it on the shelves. In turn, can designs give designers a broader canvass to work on, wrapping 360-degree cylinders. As a display strategy, these are striking alone as well as side-by-side as well.

Similar project, dubbed “Beertone” by designers Alexander Michelbach and Daniel Eugster, provides RGB, CMYK and HTML code color values for a variety of extant Swiss beers, aided by the breweries.

There is something accessible and yet artsy about this all, distilling a brew to its color and letting those of us who are more into lights and ambers (pilsner’s in particular, if you aim to by this author a six-pack) avoid mistakenly winding up with a brown or black.

Using air flow and solar energy, this ingenious device creates up to 16 ounces (a half-liter) per hour of drinkable water via condensation as you ride, quenching your thirst just when and where you need it most: while cycling hard in hot and humid climates.

Austrian designer Kristof Retezár has submitted this self-filling water bottle, dubbed Fontus, for award consideration to the James Dyson Foundation. His proposal cites potential benefits both to athletes but also more broadly to regions where obtaining potable water can be difficult (in many cases, these are also places where many travel by bicycle).

The gadget itself attaches to the frames of bicycles and contains a slot where a standard-sized disposable water bottle can be attached, filled and detached when needed. Retezár experimented with various materials, systems and processes to make a working prototype in his own bathroom, testing under various temperatures and humidity conditions.

How does it work? “Basically, condensation occurs when you cool air to its saturation point. Fontus has a small internal cooler that is divided into two halves. A solar panel provides energy to cool the upper half of the condenser, a process that heats the lower half. When air flows past the heated lower half, it makes the top cool even further. Air moving through the chambers is slowed and cooled to condense moisture, which drips down into the bottle.”

The inspiration: “According to UN statistics, More than 2 billion people in more than 40 countries live in regions with water scarcity. In 2030, 47% of the world´s population will be living in areas of high water stress. Water scarcity may be the most underestimated resource issue facing the world today. Every measure to ease this upcoming crisis is a welcome one.”

For now, it is a work in progress – whether this design hits mass-production without kinks or complications remains to be seen, particularly given the difficulty of distilling liquid water from air moisture. That said, the process does have a long history in various forms. “Harvesting water from the air is a method that has been practised for more than 2000 years in certain cultures mostly in Asia and Central America. The Earth’s atmosphere contains around 13.000 km3 of mostly unexploited freshwater. This project is an attempt to discover these resources. My goal was to create a small, compact and self-sufficient device able to absorb humid air, separate water molecules from air molecules and store water in liquid form in a bottle.”

Rectangular, skinny and designed to fit in briefcases or computer bags, this is definitely a bottle with a clear message: it is time to make your preferred refreshment receptacle more mobile.

A sleek portable solution for your potables, the memobottle comes in standardized paper sizes to fit your preferred carrying case alongside books or computers, including Letter, A4 and A5 in the initial run.

Its creators come from dry places – Melbourne, Australia and San Diego, California – and have a mission in mind that involves more than mere convenience:  “Single use bottle consumption [results in] 1,500 plastic bottles being used and discarded every second in the US.” Further, “bottled water is about 1,400 times more expensive than tap water and often less regulated.”

The memobottle is a dishwasher-friendly, long-life, BPA-free water bottle that uses plastic, which its makers claim is more environmentally friendly than aluminum or stainless steel. The design definitely has its fans, with the project already over-funded by 1000% on Kickstarter with nearly one month left to go.