Lucozade Sport has announced plans to trail plastic-free sports drinks and gels at running events from September 2018. Not only will the packaging be biodegradable, the seaweed outer layer encasing the products will be fully edible.

Lucozade have teamed up with materials engineering start-up Skipping Rocks Lab to trail their revolutionary Ooho product, made from seaweed extract. Ooho biodegrades in four to six weeks and can be eaten or disposed of in food bins.

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This comes at a time where running event companies seem to be addressing the issue of plastic wastage at races all over the country. Oohos filled with Lucozade sports drinks and gels will be trialled at the Richmond Marathon on 16 September and Tough Mudder in West Sussex on 29 September.

Lucozade have signed a UK Plastics Pact, agreeing to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic packaging by 2025. Lucy Grogut, Head of Marketing at Lucozade Sport comments: “Lucozade Sport-filled Oohos are a completely new and exciting way to deliver the UK’s favourite sports drinks to our consumers. They offer us a hugely exciting opportunity to reduce plastic use in the long-term, especially at mass-participation sporting events. As a company, we are always striving to do the right thing and this partnership is a positive step in becoming more sustainable.”

Pierre Paslier, Co-Founder, Skipping Rocks Lab, adds: “As a sustainable packaging start-up, we are pioneering the use of natural seaweed extracts to create packaging with low environmental impact. We’re thrilled to be working with Lucozade Ribena Suntory to trial the use of our edible containers for sports events.”

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