A new company found a way to take the hassle out of reusing water bottles

Water bottles are super useful until they're empty. Then you just have an empty tube to carry around.

An alternative to that hassle is to buy disposable plastic bottles, but those aren't exactly environmentally friendly.

Jean and Kevin Wu have a better way to avoid that dilemma: que Bottle.

What starts as an 8.4-inch, 20-ounce bottle when full can be compressed to a 4.8-inch "cube" when empty. Que Bottle also comes in a smaller, 12-ounce model that squishes into an even tinier cube. Both are made entirely of food-grade silicone and come with a leak-proof stainless steel cap.

Jean and Kevin say they came up with the idea after attending too many music festivals where the easiest choice for portable drinking water was disposable plastic bottles. The two entrepreneurs launched a Kickstarter campaign for the que Bottle October 4, and have already surpassed their fundraising goal.

"We just thought it was so bad for the environment that people were buying all these bottles of water and then just throwing them away," Jean told Digital Trends.

According to the Kickstarter campaign, the que Bottle can handle hot liquids up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, is dishwasher safe, and is taste- and odor-free.

"Unlike metal or plastic containers, silicone WILL NOT change the taste of your water," they write. "It's the water bottle that has the best qualities of glass and metal, with the added benefit of being flexible, light, and shatter resistant."

The bottle was also designed with a wide mouth to accommodate full-sized ice cubes.

Unlike aluminum bottles, which may dent or break over time, the makers of que Bottle say their silicone bottle is highly durable. If you drop it, the bottle might flop around awkwardly, like a fish out of water, but it won't crack or leak.

The bottle is currently available for pre-orders as part of the Kickstarter campaign, where it's selling for $22. It will retail for $25 after the campaign ends.

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