Earth Day may be in the rear view mirror, but it’s not too late to champion a project I recently learned about from Rob Vandenabeele, founder EcoFriendlyBeer.com.
Rob’s email was an eye-opener.
According to estimates from data collected by the Mass. Brew Bros. in discussions with Massachusetts breweries, officials from recycling groups, and the state’s largest waste management companies, at least 10 million new plastic beer can carriers are used annually by breweries in Massachusetts, with just 10% of them being collected and reused, and less than 2% of them ever getting recycled.
This means that they end up glutting the state’s landfills.
As a craft beer drinker and big fan of the environment, this fact disturbs me.
Although most of these carriers are marked as “100% recyclable,” the state’s RecycleSmart website, an initiative of the Massachusetts department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and its three largest waste disposal companies (Casella, Republic, and Waste Management) say that plastic carriers and six-pack rings pose problems for their sorting equipment. This means that despite beer drinkers best intentions, these plastic holders still end up in landfills, or worse, incinerated.
The good news is that Rob is launching an initiative to raise awareness about the problem and providing a variety of solutions that consumers and breweries can use to significantly increase the statewide rate of reuse and proper recycling of plastic carriers and rings. As one of the Mass. Brew Bros., Rob and his Brew Bros. partner, Bob Kelley, will be kicking off a social media campaign to challenge the state’s craft beer drinkers to meet this challenge.
EcoFriendly Beer and the Mass. Brew Bros. have also created a map of current collection sites for these plastic carriers, including all participating breweries and beer stores. They’ve also partnered with GreenLabs Recycling on a pilot collection and recycling program that will be rolled out in Metro Boston by the end of the month. Of course, consumers aren’t the only ones who need to participate. Breweries and beer stores will also need to step up and do their part.
The idea is also supported by the Mass Brewers Guild. which it believes has the potential to make a real difference while sending a powerful message that the craft brewing industry wants to do business sustainably and do right by the environment.
For more information regarding proper carrier and ring recycling, refer to the wealth of data at EcoFriendlyBeer.com.
Let’s all do our part. We can all say “cheers” to that.
April 25, 2021 at 07:21PM
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Beer Nut: Few plastic beer can carriers being recycled - masslive.com
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