Brewery Creates Edible Six-Pack Rings that Feed, Rather Than Kill, Marine Life




Craft brewery could influence big beer and soft drink companies to replace plastic six-pack rings with edible ones, potentially saving millions of sea creatures

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A brewery started by surfers, fishermen and “people who love the sea” has developed edible ring-holders for their six-packs of beer.

The material – made of barley and wheat remnants from the brewing process – is 100-percent biodegradable and safe for fish, turtles, birds and other marine life to eat, unlike the plastic ring-holders that are now killing them by the millions.

turtle_stuck_in_soda_can_six_pack_ring

Each year, “an estimated one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles become entrapped in plastic or ingest it and die,” says marine biologist Mark Tokulka in the video below.

Americans consume more than 6 billion gallons of beer each year, half of which comes in cans. Most of the plastic rings that hold those cans together end up in the ocean. Saltwater Brewery wants to change that.

The hope is that other craft breweries and large beer companies will follow their lead. If they did, the manufacturing cost would drop and be very competitive with the cost of plastic six-pack rings, saving hundreds of thousands of marine lives.

In light of the recent projection that there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050, it’s a step in the right direction!




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80 responses to “Brewery Creates Edible Six-Pack Rings that Feed, Rather Than Kill, Marine Life”

  1. Sharon Cannon Avatar
    Sharon Cannon

    Wonderful brilliant idea. May ALL breweries get on board

    1. Warren Avatar

      Vb brewery in Australia “STILL” use ” PLASTIC ” 6 pack holders, ,, unbelievable

      1. Gabee Avatar
        Gabee

        I sent them the link….in a message!!

        1. Wembly Avatar
          Wembly

          Good on you, that crossed my mind to do.

  2. andrea lemon Avatar
    andrea lemon

    Thank you Saltwater Brewery! Integrity in business.

  3. Joan Francis Avatar
    Joan Francis

    Wow how wonderful to see an organisation realising its impact on the environment outside the profit margin. Long overdue as biodegradable realistically has been around for sometime but it takes a powerhouse to realise thst external life and retaiinment of the environment and preservation Is of great importance. Profitable and environmentally friendships can be formed. The proof is in the ocean……

  4. […] RELATED: Brewery Creates Edible Six-Pack Rings that Feed Rather than Kill Marine Life […]

  5. […] RELATED: Brewery Creates Edible Six-Pack Rings that Feed Fish Rather than Kill Them […]

  6. Nick Avatar
    Nick

    Sometimes it’s smaller companies like this one that comes up with a solution to a problem that changes the industry as a whole.

    Well done!

  7. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    This is a great idea and I support it 100%. Exactly where do they get a statistic that half of the beer rings end up in the ocean? Do you mean that half the country looks for a way to ship all their trash to the sea? That makes absolutely ZERO sense. Why do you have to taint a great idea with BS?

    1. Matt Avatar
      Matt

      It doesn’t say half end up in the sea! That article says half there cunsumption is sold in cans and MOST of the plastic from these end up in the ocean!

      1. Dyrell Avatar
        Dyrell

        Most means half or more

    2. Ana Avatar
      Ana

      That caught my eye, too. The article did say “most” not half. I do not believe that most or even anywhere close to half of the plastic rings end up in the sea. For one thing, most landfills in the US are not anywhere near the ocean. In fact most of the plastic and other garbage in the Pacific Ocean is from Asia. Never the less, it’s great for the environment rings to biodegrade.

      1. Deb Avatar

        Plastics are delivered to waterways mainly via storm water. It is a huge problem and the amount of plastic in our oceans is beyond ridiculous.

      2. Tania Avatar
        Tania

        I do believe most of these wind up in the waters. Think of all the floods along the rivers from people’s homes and businesses and even landfills that flood, all that washes into the ocean waters, the hurricanes the flooded cities and all the trash that wash back into the waters.

    3. Cat Avatar
      Cat

      Most marine debris does come from landfill and sewer overflows. It doesn’t mean people are directly dumping their trash in the ocean it just works it’s way out there with rain, with erosion, flooding, just the natural processes the earth goes though. Especially, small light plastic like beer rings and bags. It does indeed make sense.

      1. Joe Avatar
        Joe

        What exactly is a landfill overflow? just curious…

  8. Bamboleo Bambolea Avatar
    Bamboleo Bambolea

    yes why do most of the plastic rings end up in the ocean?

    1. Deb Avatar

      Most plastics are delivered via storm water. The plastic ends up on the ground. A storm occurs and the water picks up the item which is delivered to a surface water via a storm sewer. Once in the surface water it then travels the path of the series of watersheds.

      So for example- my school nature center is next to Poplar Creek outside Chicago. A student drops a piece of liter in the parking lot. The litter enters the storm sewer system and is dumped into Poplar Creek. Poplar Creek runs into the Fox River, which runs into the Illinois River, which runs into the Mississippi River which runs into the Gulf of Mexico.

      Another source is of course trade winds and shipping containers.

      A source few people think about are balloon releases. What goes up…must come down. Balloon releases are the same thing as throwing a million pieces of plastic ggarbage on the ground….which once again gets delivered to our oceans via storm water.

      Storm water is just plain #waterstupid

    2. Deb1 Avatar

      Most plastics are delivered via storm water. The plastic ends up on the ground. A storm occurs and the water picks up the item which is delivered to a surface water via a storm sewer. Once in the surface water it then travels the path of the series of watersheds.

      So for example- my school nature center is next to Poplar Creek outside Chicago. A student drops a piece of liter in the parking lot. The litter enters the storm sewer system and is dumped into Poplar Creek. Poplar Creek runs into the Fox River, which runs into the Illinois River, which runs into the Mississippi River which runs into the Gulf of Mexico.

      Another source is of course trade winds and shipping containers.

      A source few people think about are balloon releases. What goes up…must come down. Balloon releases are the same thing as throwing a million pieces of plastic ggarbage on the ground….which once again gets delivered to our oceans via storm water.

      Storm water is just plain #waterstupid

  9. L. Fields Avatar
    L. Fields

    Brilliant!!!!!

  10. Nan Knowlton Avatar
    Nan Knowlton

    Simply brilliant. Now if we could somehow get the cigarette companies to develop an edible cigarette butt. Millions are chucked in our beautiful MN lakes. The filters lay suspended on the lake bottoms for years & years, killing our fish. Minnesota has thousands of fresh water lakes & rivers. We own a cabin on lake Winnebigoshish, 65,000 acre lake in the Chippewa National Forest.

    1. Candy dixon Avatar
      Candy dixon

      Wow sorry to be nosy but fag butts actually killing the fish?a few years ago there was a fish farm breakout and people actually used fag butts as bait because they looked like the pellets the farmed fish were eating.if that’s true all those fish died.

  11. Ed Hare Avatar
    Ed Hare

    It’s a great idea, but the article should not resort to exaggeration to make its point. Most of the plastic produced by humans ends up in landfills, trash-to-energy-programs or being recycled. The beverage-container rings that do end up in the ocean pose a risk to marine life, but it is nowhere near “most” of them that end up in the ocean. That is sloppy and charged writing.

    1. Chris Meadows Avatar

      Any of these beverage holders that end up in landfills will biodegrade, and not be harmful there either.

      1. Amber Avatar
        Amber

        plastic doesn’t biodegrade; it just becomes smaller pieces that are ingested by smaller organisms only to be bioaccumulated and moved right back up the food web.

        1. Annie Hollis Avatar
          Annie Hollis

          I believe Mr. Meadows is referring to the biodegradeable, edible barley waste rings, not the plastic ones, so yes, any of these barley rings that end up in landfills will fully biodegrade.

          1. Patrick Gonzo Avatar
            Patrick Gonzo

            Actually, most of these beverage rings are photodegradeable. That means that if left in the sun long enough, they disintegrate.

            I used to work for a company that made them – ITW/Hi-Cone.

  12. Juliea Avatar
    Juliea

    This should apply to ALL beverage makers from sofa to beer to just spring water. This should be law. There is NO reason to keep polluting our waters with plastic when we know there are alternatives that are less harmful to our environment.

  13. Flix Avatar
    Flix

    This is a brilliant idea. I wonder if it can be utilised in bag form. I’d like to see edible shopping bags next. Well done Saltwater Brewery.

  14. Bernard Avatar

    Have been pondering the plastic problem our generation faces as well. I came up with a couple of solutions, however left field they may seem. http://www.bernarddevaal.com/single-post/2017/01/07/incredulously-yours

  15. Marion Avatar
    Marion

    Brilliant idea! I would go so far as to say this should become mandatory, if it has been tested and found to be as harmless as it is suggested. Anything to reduce our plastic footprint.

  16. Jack Butler Avatar
    Jack Butler

    A sensational idea. I’d like to see a more in depth report on this. If the rings can be made of this material, there must be many other applications it could be used for.

    1. sunflowr72 Avatar
      sunflowr72

      How about making plastic rings/bags that are food-safe for humans? There are enough humans starving worldwide, and the fish have plenty to eat. It’s not like the fish are going around with empty tummies and dying of starvation and malnutrition. Create an edible bag of some sort so when you take dinner home to your family, the bag it comes in can become part of the meal. Or all the bags we currently dispose in a year could be shipped to 3rd world countries as a food source. Perhaps that sounds somewhat naive, but if they can do it for animal consumption, it’s not such a stretch to think they could do it for humans.

      1. Mungai Muiruri Avatar
        Mungai Muiruri

        On behalf of the third world, you have got to be flipping kidding me. People do not starve (they do by the way) because they do not have money for food food donations etc. They starve coz their land is drying up at an insane rate and they can’t grow any food. Many of the people out hear eat what they sow like the pioneers in the US did before they discovered capitalism. So if people in first world countries polluted less, we would not need so much aid.http://350africa.org/8-ways-climate-change-is-already-affecting-africa/

  17. jamie Avatar

    How can I connect with this brewery and support their work.

  18. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Wonderful invention. This should be mandatory.

  19. Ken Avatar
    Ken

    THat is 5.3 billion Plastic Sixpack holders Could they make this many edible ones? I don’t know just asking. I cut all of my holder so that all of the rings and finger grips are cut. But it’s still not biodegradable.

    1. Jimbo Avatar
      Jimbo

      6 pack rings are biodegradable. They are however not edible like the ones in the article. Sit one out in the sun for a couple days. It will fall apart

  20. Viola ravanelli Avatar

    I refuse to purchase anything with plastic rings i won’t add to the problem i am committed to saving are shores and parks

  21. jerneja Avatar
    jerneja

    Great idea, but hello in the first place these parts shouldn’t even endup in the water….. !!!!

    1. Patricia Avatar
      Patricia

      i believe we are – unfortunately – a little far away from that reality. If all potential trash becomes biodegradable it would already be a huge step.

  22. Bliss Avatar
    Bliss

    Let’s make bottles, lids, bags, toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes & caps, tampon appliers, etc out of this material!

  23. George DeLisle Avatar

    Slogan should be ” drink it, then sink it”…copyright 2017

  24. Jimbo Avatar
    Jimbo

    Plastic rings are 100% biodegradable. They break down in sunlight after a few days. Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.

    1. Cat Avatar
      Cat

      So the many, many images of animals caught dead and dying in plastic rings are all photoshopped are they? Gubbermint conspiracy perhaps?

  25. Blake Avatar
    Blake

    Why not just make them biodegradable? Surely this would only encourage people to dispose of their can holders in the ocean. Would this trend not then encourage others who see this disposal, but are unaware of the unique attributes of this specific product to take a more blasé approach to their own refuse disposal and increase the incidences of littering?

    Also, i’m sure the majority of those that end up in the ocean do not simply wash there from the shore. It is likely they are taken there via stormwater drains, wind or by other means. Why would someone purchase a beer, then drive to the beach to toss their beer into the ocean. This company is now limiting it’s purchasing demographic to people who consume beer exclusively by the seaside?

    1. Mary Avatar
      Mary

      I believe the article stated they are 100 percent biodegradable.

  26. J Avatar
    J

    So what about the fish that are Celiac?

  27. kbee Avatar
    kbee

    Awesome…I will buy more from companies that do this and are cautious about our environment and our wildlife.

  28. Jan clarke Avatar
    Jan clarke

    Why the hell aren’t they being used, and why on earth can’t we have large paper bags, thick ones, like in the states instead of plastic! We really are a nation of people with no sense of logic!!!

  29. Jason Jehosephat Avatar
    Jason Jehosephat

    Is there anything preventing a creature from getting stuck in these rings? Just because it’s edible doesn’t mean something will come along and eat it. Can cans not be carried in the same type of cardboard totes used for bottles?

    1. robert owen Avatar
      robert owen

      Yes. Good idea!

  30. Anne Avatar
    Anne

    Grains are not a natural food for sea creatures..make them oit of seaweed or you will make them sick eating food that is not natural for them!

  31. Sally Wilkins Avatar
    Sally Wilkins

    So – if this is true, and such a laudable effort – what brewery are we to be cheering here? There does not seem to be any actual craft brewery named, nor is there any link to any actual documentation of this technology. I would love to believe/cheer for it but instead I am suspicious.

    1. Kendra Avatar
      Kendra

      Saltwater Brewery. It’s only mentioned in the video.

    2. Angela Avatar
      Angela

      Saltwater Brewery is its name, it’s in the article. (Maybe it was added after your comment?) www [dot] saltwaterbrewery [dot] com

      1. Don Mappin Avatar
        Don Mappin

        Saltwater Brewery is a real brewery. It’s located in Delete Beach,FL.

  32. David Wong Avatar
    David Wong

    Hi Sara Burrows. Can you send me the contacts of the manufacturer of the edible / biodegradable six pack rings. I’d like to find out more about the products

  33. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    Since we can’t seem to get people to police their own trash… this is great!

  34. Pat Jones Avatar
    Pat Jones

    The brewery is located here in Delray Beach, FL. Stats usually come from organized beach cleanups (I do them on a regular basis). We actually do count what we find on the beach, and it is tallied up for specific areas. It’s disturbing how much we find in a very short period of time. Six-pack rings, plastic straws and utensils, string/fishing line and Mylar balloons top the list. Not to mention cigarette butts. Our marine and other wildlife rescue organizations are always struggling to try to save wildlife that have endured entrapment/possible suffocation by these things. It is no exaggeration what they can do to a creature of the sea, land and air.

  35. Scott Avatar
    Scott

    You need to buy the case and save money instead!
    Plus you’ll be saving a life and a trip back to the store for more beer.
    Not many 6pk rings around here,just a biodegradable carton that’s starting the campfire

  36. Cat Avatar
    Cat

    Although in theory this seems like a good idea and probably a big improvement on microplastics dissolving in the oceans, there are a couple of problems with it. Firstly, if a big issue is animals getting caught in the rings, is the material soft enough to still allow creatures to escape if they are not eaten? Secondly, wheat and barley are not natural foods for fish…we are already having many environmental agencies telling us not to feed bread to ducks because it isn’t good for them, and a lot of it rots at the bottom of the pond/river causing issues. Thirdly, I doubt breweries would have enough waste to keep up with the demand. Like I said, improvement on plastic but not really solving the problem IMO.

  37. Sharon Avatar

    This is a brilliant idea. Even if wheat and barley are not the most idea products to be making these out of, I imagine they’re better for the environment and marine life than plastic.

    Sometimes it’s just baby steps, and taking baby steps are better than doing nothing at all.

  38. Lorri Avatar
    Lorri

    I was in Florida last month and looked for these. I bought some beer from Salt water brewery but they had the regular rings on them. When will they be starting to use these? I will be going back next month and will look again to see if they are in use yet.

  39. MEL Avatar
    MEL

    This is a fabulous idea – but only if the new products (if this idea is expanded into more food/beverage “delivery” systems) are made from non-GMO biodegradable sources. Feeding GMO products to our marine life will only exasperate an already looming issue for the human race. Given time, there will be no Organic seafood. Just a housewife’s opinion…

  40. Eva Avatar
    Eva

    This is STUPID! Creatures will get stuck in them and would not be able to eat their way out. Meanwhile they become prey to other animals. How about we put 6 packs in recycled cardboard boxes like many beverage makers are already doing (soda cans at grocery stores, bottled beers).

    1. cogitoergodavesum Avatar
      cogitoergodavesum

      They won’t get stuck. These will break down and fall away.

  41. Paul C. Avatar
    Paul C.

    This sounds fantastic, but there is one thing bothering me about this information.

    How on Earth do all the six pack rings and other plastics end up in the ocean?

    Are people purposely keeping them out of their normal garbage and electing to drive out to the beach and drop their trash in the ocean?

    Is all the beer being consumed at the beach?

    If the plastic rings are being thrown away in the normal everyday trash, how/why are they making it to the ocean while the rest of the trash is not?

  42. cogitoergodavesum Avatar
    cogitoergodavesum

    The rest of the trash IS making it to the ocean. This innovation addresses a small, but real, part of that larger problem.

  43. Donald G. Jackson Avatar
    Donald G. Jackson

    More stuff should be like this. Water bottles should be refundable for re use like Cdn. beer bottles are. Shopping bags sold and re useable. Penalities for not using recycle boxes and putting recycled things in garbage. Large fines for littering and on private property violators will be shot and survivors shot again.

  44. Caseu Eclert Avatar

    What brewery is doing this? Why aren’t you promoting their name and location? I’d like to pass this along to my colleagues.

  45. David Giraitis Avatar
    David Giraitis

    Of course, beer could be sold in paper cartons, just like 12 packs and larger are usually sold. I would support legislation that mandated this.

  46. Owen Avatar
    Owen

    The next step is for the retailer to add a few pence (or whatever is your currency) as a deposit on every can sold.

  47. […] historical accuracy and I can’t wait to try the lager.  Speaking of beer, did you hear about edible six-pack rings? I’ve been waiting for this mini golf place to open. Love the look and the cocktails […]

  48. Ames Avatar
    Ames

    Awesome..part of the solution instead of the pollution. Now what is the name of the craft beer? I would like to support them!

  49. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    Interesting concept, but fish feeding is actually incredibly damaging to reefs, which support the fish populations. It would be much better if we could just learn to recycle with reputable companies in the first place.