Facebook Twitter Linkedin

  • Home
  • News Center
    • Latest News
    • Events
  • Publications
  • Education
    • Education Home
    • Calculation Examples
    • Online Historical Database of Civil Infrastructure
  • Networking
  • Jobs
  • Software
  • Maps
  • Advertising Services
  • Home
  • News Center
  • Latest News
  • News on Products & Services
  • Innovative biodegradable six-pack rings to protect marine life

Innovative biodegradable six-pack rings to protect marine life Featured

Written by  TheCivilEngineer.org
Published in News on Products & Services
  • Media
Innovative biodegradable six-pack rings to protect marine life
02
June

A Florida brewery came up with this non-plastic packaging made from wheat and barley

Saltwater Brewery is trying to replace the plastic six-pack rings used for their products, with edible ones that do not harm the sea life, as plastic rings can be fatal to fish, turtles and birds. These biodegradable rings are made from by-products of the brewing process such as wheat and barley, meaning that they not only help towards waste prevention, but are also completely safe for humans and animals to eat. The packaging starts to disintegrate within two hours of being in the ocean, so that fish or other sea animals do not get stuck in the rings. They take two to three months to completely disappear in the water and it takes a similar amount of time to compost if left on the beach, although this also depends on soil composition, humidity and temperature. Saltwater Brewery released a test batch of 500 prototype edible rings last April and plans to scale up production to meet its current output of 400,000 cans of beer a month. 

These rings are as resistant and efficient as plastic packaging, however they are more expensive to produce. But the company hopes that customers will be willing to pay a little more in order to help the environment and animal life, and if more craft brewers and big beer companies invest in the technology, prices would go down. It is estimated that the initial mass-produced batch will cost around 25 cents [17p] per unit– about 10 cents more than the recyclable plastic six-pack rings Saltwater is currently using. More than 50 craft breweries have already contacted Saltwater expressing an interest in using edible ring packaging. The company hopes to build a centralized production facility by 2017 around a cluster of breweries. 

About half of all the beer Americans drink is sold in cans, so this idea could be a significant start, even though it would be best if people did not throw plastic away in the first place, putting marine life in danger.

Media

More in this category: « The most elegant battery for energy storage World’s first bike Café chain for a better world! »
Read 1416 times Last modified on Thursday, 02 June 2016 09:04
  • Social sharing:
  • Add to Facebook
  • Add to Delicious
  • Digg this
  • Add to StumbleUpon
  • Add to Technorati
  • Add to Reddit
  • Add to MySpace
  • Like this? Tweet it to your followers!
Tagged under
  • Environmental Engineer
  • marine life
  • ocean pollution
  • plastic pollution
  • plastic waste

Latest from TheCivilEngineer.org

  • Robotic vehicles to fix broken satellites
  • New technique to carry freight through underground tunnels
  • Smart buildings potential and limitations
  • Smart technology in road infrastructure
  • Calculation example - Resections

Related items

  • Designing a skyscraper completely made out of plastic
  • New study shows that plastic waste can replace sand in concrete
  • A Chinese tidal energy project qualifies as ‘world record’
  • These shoes are not just made for walking, but from discarded plastic bottles too!
  • The inspection of solar farms with drones opens a new market for small unmanned aerial systems
back to top
Place your ad here - Reach throusands of Proffesionals!

Search News

Filter By Category

More News On

bridge China Climate Change Earthquake Environmental Engineer Landslide Landslides Newsletter Structural engineer USA

Facebook Twitter Youtube Linkedin

Sign up for our newsletters

Our Resources

Contribute

Services

Advertising Kit 2018

Contact Us

Copyright © 2002-2019 Elxis s.a.
Powered by ARGO-E LLC. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer - Copyrights & Permissions - Cookies

TheCivilEngineer.org uses third party cookies to improve our website and your experience when using it.

To find out more about the cookies we use and how to delete them visit our Cookies page. Learn more

I understand
Latest News