SaltWater Brewery in South Florida is the first brewery to test biodegradable six-pack rings. Designed by start-up E6PR, the Eco Six-Pack Ring is made from wheat and barley, which allows it to be composted. And best of all? The six-pack ring is not harmful to aquatic life if swallowed. If widely adopted, this groundbreaking product could result in a significant decrease in both plastic pollution and wildlife injuries or deaths related to ingestion of or entrapment in six-pack rings.
Initially introduced as a concept in 2016, E6PR’s green six-pack holder required considerable fine-tuning, a process that continues as the startup aims to expand production. “Bringing the product to the level of performance that we have right now was really challenging,” Francisco Garcia, Chief Operating Officer at E6PR, told Fast Company. Since the current model is made from wheat and barley, it is technically edible, though human consumption of the product is not advised. The next iteration will be made from brewing waste by-products in a production facility soon to open in Mexico.
Related: This Louisiana craft beer pioneer ‘went green’ long before it was cool
If the current roll-out of E6PR’s green six-pack holder proves successful, the startup hopes to expand the product’s usage to other breweries. In addition to its collaboration with craft beer maker SaltWater Brewery, E6PR is also working with a large brewing company to test the scalability of the product. “For Big Beer, it’s really about making sure that we can not only produce the E6PRs, but also apply them at the speed that those lines require,” Marco Vega, co-founder of ad agency and E6PR collaborative partner We Believers, told Fast Company. E6PR also hopes to bring its green drink packaging to other beverages like soda. As E6PR and other companies race to release market-competitive, green packaging products, consumers and environmentalists have reason to hope the tide may someday turn against plastic pollution, more than 8 million tons of which is dumped into the world’s oceans each year.
Via Fast Company
Images via E6PR and Saltwater Brewery
