Overview
The plastic rings that hold six packs together are both genius and hazardous. On the one hand, they're really bloody handy when you're carting six tinnies to a barbecue — have you ever tried to hold six loose cans of beer? — but on the other, they have a devastating impact on marine wildlife when they become waste. To combat the effects these pesky pieces of plastic have on the environment, a Florida brewery has developed a type of biodegradable six-pack ring that can actually be eaten by the animals they usually pose a risk to.
After seeing the effect plastic has on marine animals like birds and turtles, Saltwater Brewery — a small brewery in Delray Beach, Florida — teamed up with New York advertising agency We Believers to redesign their packaging to make it more environmentally friendly. What they came up with was a biodegradable version of the plastic rings made of the wheat and barley that's left over after brewing. They claim that it's the first 100 per cent biodegradable, compostable and edible packaging in the beer industry.
The first batch of rings were made using a 3D printer, and the brewery aims to produce 400,000 per month to cover their current production. It's a great move that we hope bigger breweries take on. Now to tackle aluminium cans...
Via Creativity.