It's a pretty spherical ball that is made of seaweed, and can help reduce plastic waste.

An edible alternative to plastic water bottles made from seaweed was showcased at the Science Museum in London on Wednesday (April 12).

It has topped the British round of a European Union competition for more sustainable products.

Ooho is described by its makers as "water you can eat".

The biodegradable casing is made chiefly from calcium chloride and a seaweed derivative called sodium alginate, reported The Guardian.

The membrane in its liquid form is coated on spheres of ice. They become balls of water as the ice melts and the membrane solidifies.

It is biodegradable, hygienic and costs one British penny (two Singapore cents) per unit to make.

Ooho designer Pierre Paslier described the product as being like a "man-made fruit", which uses a double membrane to contain water.

To carry larger quantities of water, a number of the capsules can be packed into a larger and thicker skin, much like an orange.

He said: "So many things are wrong about plastic bottles: The time they take to decompose, the amount of energy that goes into making them and the fact that we are using more and more."

London-based Skipping Rocks Lab is looking into large-scale production with a sustainability grant from the European Union.

Will the squidgy globe catch on and replace plastic mineral water bottles?

More than 800,000 tonnes of plastic waste was generated in Singapore in 2015, of which 7 per cent was recycled.