Design students in material and packaging courses around the globe are at the forefront of developing sustainable substrates to replace plastic. Just last year, Chile-based designer Margarita Talep produced a plastic alternative for dry goods out of agar, while Emma Sicher formulated a substrate out of SCOBYs—you know, that funky stuff that helps brew your daily kombucha—that can also be used to manufacture single-use tableware, both of which are biodegradable, and leave no trace.

While these are both phenomenal discoveries and a step in the right direction, you might start got asking yourself what you could do about all those liquid products packaged in plastic. What’s an alternative, outside of infinitely recyclable materials like glass or aluminum, that will similarily leave little to no trace behind?