Food News Roundup: Water Bottle Shoes, Brazilian Supermarket Gardens, Coffee Siphon Pens
We're all looking for ways to be sustainable these days. From wearing your trash and recyclables to picking your produce straight from the source (or as close as possible), we've got the scoop.
What are thooose?
What is there to do when recycling doesn't tickle your inner Captain Planet? A shoemaking startup is here to help. Rothy's transforms three plastic water bottles into a waste-free and pretty shoe, according to Co.Exist. Filament fiber from the water bottles is used to "3D-knit" flats that not only reuse water bottles, but also create no additional waste. It only takes six minutes to knit a pair. The shoes are available at Rothy's website and go for $125 to $145.
Produce doesn't get fresher than this
Growing your own vegetables can be a challenge if you don't have the space or time. But you can have the illusion of picking them, at least, at one Brazilian supermarket chain: Zona Sul has implemented fake "fresh gardens" in its produce section to entice costumers to choose fresh veggies. The bed of soil offers whole heads of lettuce, onions, herbs and other greens that shoppers can pick straight from the dirt. Zona Sul's effort led to an 18 percent increase in vegetable sales.
Hand-brewed coffee
Nifty pens were all the rage when you were in grade school, but have you ever seen one that mimics coffee being brewed in a siphon with the help of human warmth? RocketNews24 reports that pens like these have been around in Japan since the '80s, but they've regained popularity thanks to a tweet from higurashikinoko that was then retweeted and liked by more than 20,000 people. A brown liquid (possibly coffee) moves up and down a siphon depending on which part of the siphon is heated by human touch. Check out the video below to see how the pen works.