The Biota bottle

Here's one of the coolest product I've seen in a while. My wife was sipping from a bottle of spring water: Biota, Colorado pure spring water. I had never heard of the brand. The name apparently stands for "Blame It On The Altitude(r)".

The water tasted great. It feels like a regular plastic bottle. And the logo is like any other logo for spring water: blue and with a snow covered mountain.


Until you read the label: the bottle is compostable!! COMPOSTABLE! How great is that?

BIOTA uses nature-based packaging from NatureWorks ™ PLA. NatureWorks ™ PLA is the first commercially viable packaging material derived entirely from an annually renewable resource - corn. BIOTA is the first beverage company in the world to exclusively use NatureWorks ™ PLA to bottle its products. BIOTA water bottles are completely compostable. They are approved and certified as commercially compostable by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). Initial testing has demonstrated that a BIOTA water bottle will degrade within 75 to 80 days in a commercial composting situation. A traditional plastic bottle will never biodegrade.

The information site has more details on the conditions under which composting works well:

How does the BIOTA bottle composting process work?
BIOTA bottles need high heat, micro-organisms and high moisture levels to break down. A BIOTA PLA bottle will not degrade as rapidly in a home compost pile. When exposed to the necessary conditions, BIOTA bottles will break down into water, carbon dioxide and organic material.

How long does it take for a BIOTA bottle to disappear?
Given the right composting conditions including high heat, humidity and micro-organisms, a BIOTA bottle will disappear in 75 to 80 days...basically 12 weeks.

Technorati: Biota Environment Green