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
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.
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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Comments
80 responses to “Brewery Creates Edible Six-Pack Rings that Feed, Rather Than Kill, Marine Life”
Wonderful brilliant idea. May ALL breweries get on board
Vb brewery in Australia “STILL” use ” PLASTIC ” 6 pack holders, ,, unbelievable
I sent them the link….in a message!!
Good on you, that crossed my mind to do.
Thank you Saltwater Brewery! Integrity in business.
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……
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[…] RELATED: Brewery Creates Edible Six-Pack Rings that Feed Fish Rather than Kill Them […]
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!
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?
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!
Most means half or more
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.
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.
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.
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.
What exactly is a landfill overflow? just curious…
yes why do most of the plastic rings end up in the ocean?
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
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
Brilliant!!!!!
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.
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.
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.
Any of these beverage holders that end up in landfills will biodegrade, and not be harmful there either.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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/
How can I connect with this brewery and support their work.
Wonderful invention. This should be mandatory.
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.
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
[…] http://returntonow.net/2016/10/05/brewery-creates-edible-six-pack-rings-that-feed-rather-than-kill-m… […]
I refuse to purchase anything with plastic rings i won’t add to the problem i am committed to saving are shores and parks
Great idea, but hello in the first place these parts shouldn’t even endup in the water….. !!!!
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.
Let’s make bottles, lids, bags, toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes & caps, tampon appliers, etc out of this material!
Slogan should be ” drink it, then sink it”…copyright 2017
Plastic rings are 100% biodegradable. They break down in sunlight after a few days. Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.
So the many, many images of animals caught dead and dying in plastic rings are all photoshopped are they? Gubbermint conspiracy perhaps?
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?
I believe the article stated they are 100 percent biodegradable.
So what about the fish that are Celiac?
Awesome…I will buy more from companies that do this and are cautious about our environment and our wildlife.
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!!!
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?
Yes. Good idea!
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!
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.
Saltwater Brewery. It’s only mentioned in the video.
Saltwater Brewery is its name, it’s in the article. (Maybe it was added after your comment?) www [dot] saltwaterbrewery [dot] com
Saltwater Brewery is a real brewery. It’s located in Delete Beach,FL.
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
Since we can’t seem to get people to police their own trash… this is great!
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.
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
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.
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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.
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.
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…
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).
They won’t get stuck. These will break down and fall away.
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?
The rest of the trash IS making it to the ocean. This innovation addresses a small, but real, part of that larger problem.
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.
What brewery is doing this? Why aren’t you promoting their name and location? I’d like to pass this along to my colleagues.
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.
The next step is for the retailer to add a few pence (or whatever is your currency) as a deposit on every can sold.
[…] Edible 6 pack rings http://returntonow.net/2016/10/05/brewery-creates-edible-six-pack-rings-that-feed-rather-than-kill-m… […]
[…] 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 […]
Awesome..part of the solution instead of the pollution. Now what is the name of the craft beer? I would like to support them!
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.