This Craft Brewery Invented Biodegradable Six-Pack Rings To Protect Wildlife

As canned craft beer explodes in popularity, the old problem of six-pack rings has started to come back into play. According to CraftBeer.com, Saltwater Brewery, out of Delray, Florida, has invented a solution – make the six-pack ring edible:

These six-pack rings are 100 percent biodegradable and edible—constructed of barley and wheat ribbons from the brewing process, this packaging can actually be safely eaten by animals that may come into contact with the refuse.

While this effort is still early along — and questionably scalable to breweries with automated packaging lines — it’s definitely a step forward. If Saltwater can get others to adopt the technology, they hope to see the price come down:

It is, understandably, more expensive to produce, but many customers are willing to pay the difference knowing that it’s better for the environment and animal life. However, if more breweries would implement this technology, the production cost would lower and be competitive with the current plastic options, saving hundreds of thousands of marine lives.

Here’s what a six-pack looks like with the new biodegradable ring:

Edible Six-Pack Rings

Watch this video to learn more: