Iceland Academy of Arts’ product design student Ari Jónsson has created a biodegradable bottle made from algae. The student designed the product in response to the continued use and disposal of water bottles, which can take as many as 1 000 years to decompose. The algae-based bottle was premiered at the recent DesignMarch festival in Reykjavik. To make the product, Jónsson used a powdered byproduct of algae called agar and combined it with water to form a jelly-like substance. The substance is then heated and decanted into a bottle-shaped mould where it chills in icy water before it solidifies in a refrigerator for a few minutes. Once set, the jelly can be removed from the mould as a solid water bottle. The biodegradable bottle retains its shape while it is filled with water but slowly starts to decompose when it is empty.