British company WaterWerkz has developed the Pouchlink, a vending machine that forms drink pouches on demand. Why? It greatly reduces the resources needed to stock a vending machine. No more transporting heavy beverage crates; vendors simply attach the Pouchlink to a water source, as with the icemaker on your 'fridge.

When consumers purchase a drink, the machine filters and mixes water with whatever concentrate is required for that particular beverage, then loads it into a capped, re-sealable, flexible pouch (a Doy pack, for you package designers out there). The pouches store flat and in rolls, smartly increasing the lengths of time the machine can go before needing to be restocked.

Consumables powerhouse Nestle and UK drinks manufacturer Bottlegreen Drinks are already on-board, so we should be seeing the machines sooner rather than later.