The disposable plastic water bottle has become an eco-sin poster child. It's crimes include jamming landfills, forming floating ocean islands, and leaching chemical into our bodies.

A new biodegradable upgrade however, could change bottled water's reputation.

California-based AQUAMANTRA is debuting the world's first 100% biodegradable-recyclable water bottle at the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, CA.

The company searched extensively for a material that would meet health, environmental, and quality standards - no small order. They considered bottles made from cornstarch (PLA), but found that it's difficult to recycle, has a questionable carbon footprint, and tends to degrade too quickly (um, clean up on Aisle 9?). Other bioplastics require a lot of sunlight to biodegrade, a big problem since many bottles sadly, inevitably end up in the landfill.

Aquamantra finally settled on a product developed by ENSO, which has developed a bottle that will biodegrade within 1-5 years, even in a landfill. Ironically, ENSO's material, like most plastic bottles, is made of polyethylene tephthalate (PET). However, it makes a good snack for microbes, doesn't leach, and can be intermingled with its other plastic brethren.

Aquamantra Founder Alexandra Teklak says, "This is the product that consumers have been waiting for. Now everyone can feel good about drinking refreshingly convenient bottled water again."

True Evian haters will argue that it's still made from oil, that the transport footprint is still too steep, and filtered tap water is just as good. Those are all good points, but until people stop buying individually-wrapped H20, this is the next best thing.