It’s Time to Can Plastic Six-Pack Holders
New six-pack rings that feed the animals!
Missouri Department of Conservation
Odds are you’ve seen heartbreaking photos or videos of animals that have suffered painful – or even life-ending – injuries from close encounters with plastic six-pack holders.
Well, here’s a good reason to raise your beer or soda and toast an ingenious breakthrough in the production of these plastic pains in the … um, planet.
Brewing up a good solution - edible packaging
Saltwater Brewery has brewed up six-pack rings that actually feed animals rather than foul up their habitat.
This crafty brewer based in Delray Beach, Florida has figured out how to make six-pack rings out of wheat and barley.
By all accounts it is the first time that 100% edible and biodegradable packaging has been used by the beer industry. In fact, this novel concept has led to a new brand of packaging – E6PR, which is an acronym for edible 6-pack ring.
We here at COAST IS CLEAR give three cheers to each six beers that come held together by E6PRs!
Why is reducing plastic packaging so important?
A study showed that nine out of 10 seabirds have eaten plastic. You can be sure the number is close for other coastal critters and sea dwellers. Just check out the photo above that shows what happened when this turtle tangled with a single-use plastic ring holder.
When it comes to six-pack rings here’s what you need to know:
PLASTIC = BAD
BIODEGRADABLE = GOOD
For a more in-depth look, watch this short video from WeBelivers.
While you or I wouldn’t want to munch on these holders that supposedly taste like cardboard or “very stale cookies,” our animal friends just might. They’re molded from wheat and barley!
Since January, the edible rings have been featured on Saltwater Brewery's Screamin’ Reels IPA, a brew available in some supermarkets and liquor stores in South Florida. We hope beer drinkers embrace the concept and it spreads as quickly as plastic pollution has.
If the manufacturer can prove the packaging works – and it is cost-effective – the holders will one day soon totally replace plastic rings.
And we’ll drink to that!