Together with Saltwater Brewery, a small craft beer brand in Florida, we decided to tackle the issue head on and make a statement for the whole beer industry to follow. We ideated, designed, prototyped and manufactured Edible Six Pack Rings. A six-pack packaging design made with materials that instead of killing animals are edible. By using byproducts of the beer brewing process such as barley and wheat, this packaging goes beyond recycling and strives to achieve zero waste. The Edible Six Pack Rings are the first ever 100% biodegradable, compostable and edible packaging implemented in the beer industry.

By using byproducts of the beer brewing process such as barley and wheat, this edible packaging goes beyond recycling to achieve zero waste and zero harm to wildlife. These is the first ever 100% biodegradable, compostable and edible packaging implemented in the beer industry. After numerous design rounds, variations in raw material mix and stress tests, we used five 3D printer generated molds to manufacture our first batch of 500 Edible Six Pack Rings just as strong as the harmful plastic rings.

We initiated manufacturing of our aluminum and inox steel machined mold to produce 400,000 Edible Six Pack Rings per month. Enough for current Saltwater Brewery demand. The material we are in the process of patenting together with a small startup of young engineers in Mexico has the potential to impact the CPG and Food and Beverage Industries and save hundreds of thousands of marine lives as a result.

Our Edible Six-Pack Rings are just the tip of the iceberg from a myriad of products that can use byproducts of its own process to manufacture its own packaging. Our potential patent(s) for a process and raw material mix that allows for 100% biodegradable, 100% compostable and edible material is where the true upside resides.

The material we have developed has proven to be highly resistant and flexible to support multiple design alternatives. Once a metal mold is developed the manufacturing volume ramps up. One machine with one mold produces 800 cases with 500 pieces each per month. That is 400,000 Edible Six Pack Rings.

Through a partnership we have with one of the largest incubators in Latin America we will host the new company that will own the patent. We will seek external investment once patent has been granted and initial large scale manufacturing has been implemented at SWB.

For us, Innovation is about unlocking significant positive change. It’s about doing good. It’s about solving THIS massive problem for THESE huge amount of people. Superb innovation should not be only limited to cool mobile technology or creative use of AI. The invention we bring forward has the potential to influence how we think about sustainable packaging with zero waste and no impact on wildlife. The work shows that through innovation the little guys can point the finger at Governments and Big Business to motivate change that impacts our world and the one we will leave for our children.

Americans drank 6.3 billion gallons of beer in 2015. Fifty percent of that volume is increasingly sold in cans as craft breweries continue to grow and choose can over bottle.

Beer cans come together with plastic six-pack rings. The preferred packaging design solution for years. It is lightweight, resistant, easy to carry and provided the beer industry with a solution for years. However, most of these plastic six-pack rings end up in our oceans and pose a serious threat to wildlife for the potential entanglement and even worse, animals eat the plastic and die of hunger as their digestive systems get clogged. According to GreenPeace, 80% of Sea Turtles and 70% of Seabirds are ingesting plastic today. This translates to 1,000,000 seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles dying each year.

It seems beer cans and plastic won’t go away. Unless innovation gets rid of at least one.