It goes without saying that water bottles are harmful to the environment. In fact, enough plastic is thrown away each year that if you were to place plastic bottles from end to end, you could circle the entire globe four times. Recycling efforts are a start, but futile in the grand scheme of things considering we only recover five percent of the plastic we produce.

With the average American throwing away nearly 185 pounds of plastic each year, this growing issue went unanswered until New York designer, Jim Warner, created The 360 Bottle. Manufactured from sustainable sheet stock (palm leaves and bamboo) The 360 Bottle is essentially paper, manufactured using 100% renewable materials.

When designing this sustainable alternative, Warner spared no attention detail; the bottle even features a peel-off tab that with a few folds can be transformed into a reusable “cap.” Not only does this bottle provide a paralleling alternative for plastic, but it’s also manufactured with carbon emissions in mind.

The design of the bottle alone allows for self-bundling – meaning, the need for a six-pack ring is eliminated. Because of this, The 360 Bottle requires significantly fewer materials to ship than the average water bottle. Warner even considered the type of “glue” he would use to bond the two half’s of the bottle together – a special 95% reduction, micro-thin PLA (polylactic acid).

Manufacturing processes, like the depicted above, play a critical role in the overall viability of a green alternative such as The 360 Bottle.  As we progress in the right direction toward a sustainable future, we will continue to see more innovators, like Warner, rise to the challenge of eliminating plastic from our landfills.