The images of seabirds and turtles hopelessly ensnared in the plastic rings used to bind six-packs are haunting, but in an effort to limit the brewing industry’s impact on the ocean, Florida-based Saltwater Brewery has been working on new edible six-pack rings that could save the lives of countless marine animals.
After teaming up with ad agency We Believers, the Delray Beach craft brewery recently launched the world’s first edible six-pack rings. The packaging, which is made from brewing byproducts, including wheat and barley, is safe for both humans and animals to eat, transforming what amounts to a death sentence for opportunistic sea life into something harmless. If the rings are not eaten, they are designed to quickly decompose, without leaving behind plastic particles that take hundreds of years to disintegrate, if at all.
According to the company, the new edible six-pack rings are just as strong as the plastic ones, although currently they are slightly more expensive to produce. However, the company hopes that this will not always be the case. Saltwater Brewery President Chris Groves says, “we hope to influence the big guys…and hopefully inspire them to get on board.” If other, larger companies adopt the new design, production costs could be reduced significantly, making it a win-win situation for the breweries and the environment.
After the success of a small-scale test batch, Saltwater Brewery plans to increase production of the rings to match its current output of 400,000 cans per month. The inspiration for the green design came from the brewery’s team, who, according to Head of Brand Peter Agardy are “fishermen, surfers and people that love the sea.” It seems appropriate that the design should come from Florida, a state that includes the only living barrier reef in the United States and generates much of its annual income from water-based tourism.
This is not the first six-pack ring designed with the environment in mind. PakTech’s Can Carrier eliminates the ring design altogether, instead encompassing the entire top of each can with a solid plastic holder. Although this invention makes it impossible for animals to become entangled in discarded carriers should they find their way into the sea, PakTech’s design uses four times more plastic than conventional six-pack rings. Ultimately, anything made from plastic has the potential to add to the pollution crisis currently threatening the health of our planet.
In a 2015 study published by the journal Science, a group of researchers estimated that as much as 13 million tons of plastic ends up in the sea each year. Another report produced by the Ellen McArthur Foundation at the beginning of this year prophesies that by 2050, there will be a greater mass of plastic in the ocean than fish. Among the worst culprits are plastic bottles and food wrappers, plastic bags and discarded fishing equipment, but all forms of plastic have the potential to harm marine life, either through ingestion or entanglement.
Although six-pack rings make up a relatively minor percentage of the plastic waste we generate, Saltwater Brewery’s new invention sets an important precedent, showing that when companies prioritize environmental responsibility over financial greed, it is possible to find workable alternatives to even the most established plastic products.
