Carlsberg Is Ditching Plastic Rings by Gluing Its Six-Packs Together


The humble six-pack is an environmental nightmare. Those familiar plastic rings are notorious for the danger they pose to marine wildlife, as animals often get ensnared in them, starving to death when they get their mouths caught. While the common solution is to ask consumers to cut up the rings before placing them in the trash, that’s only a stop-gap measure. Now, Carlsberg has come up with a new plan to rid the world of plastic rings altogether. According to The Telegraph, the Copenhagen-based beer producer has come up with a glued six-pack design that keeps beers together without adding extra plastic.

The Snap Pack design keeps beer cans together with dots of glue. The bonds are strong enough to withstand the jostling of transport, but not so strong that you can’t break them apart. (Unlike the thicker plastic holders used by craft beer companies, which can be a nightmare to use.) The design took three years to perfect.

Previously, a Florida-based brewery called Saltwater created an edible, compostable set of six-pack rings designed to make drinking beer a bit more dolphin-safe, but this eliminates the rings entirely. Considering that Carlsberg is one of the world’s top beer producers, the environmental benefit is pretty dramatic. The company estimates that the glued packs will reduce the amount of plastic used in traditional multi-packs of beer by more than 75 percent, saving around 1322 tons of plastic every year.

The Snap Packs will make their debut in the U.K. in September 2018, before being rolled out to the rest of Europe and the world.

[h/t The Telegraph]

2624-Year-Old Cypress Tree Discovered in North Carolina Swamp


National Love a Tree Day on May 16 is a day to appreciate all the world's trees, but a bald cypress recently identified in North Carolina is especially deserving of recognition. As Live Science reports, scientists date the tree to 2624 years old, making it one the oldest living non-clonal trees on Earth.

For their study, recently published in the journal Environmental Research Communications, a team of researchers studied the rings of trees in North Carolina's Black River swampland to learn more about climate history in the eastern United States. Bald cypresses are known to have impressive lifespans, but after analyzing specimens in the Black River's Three Sisters Swamp, an area that's notable for its long-lived trees, the scientists discovered that cypresses can grow to be even older than previously believed. The 2624-year-old cypress tree they found predates the Great Wall of China and the Roman Empire. Other remarkably old trees, including a 2088-year-old cypress, were also identified in the same grove.

The North Carolina cypresses are old, but there are other types of trees that can grow to be much older. Clonal tress are genetically identical plants that reproduce asexually from a single ancestor. Old Tjikko, a clonal tree in Sweden, has a root system that dates back 9550 years.

Despite all that North Carolina's bald cypress trees have endured, their lives are under threat. The swamp where the 2624-year-old tree stands is located just 6.5 feet above sea level, which means that floods driven by climate change could damage its habitat. And though the grove is in a protected area, industrial runoff and logging that's happening nearby could impact the trees' health. North Carolina is considering establishing a Black River State Park where the trees grow to further protect the ancient natural wonders.

[h/t Live Science]

This Beverage Maker Lets You Enjoy Carbonated Drinks Without Hurting the Environment


Whether you're preparing breakfast before you head off to work or looking for something to wash down lunch, procuring the perfect beverage is vital. If it's a carbonated drink, though, with that comes the carbon dioxide emissions that arise every time you hear that classic "fssst" sound from cracking one open. These emissions are actually quite harmful to the environment.

But thanks to the newly unveiled Spärkel, curating carbonated drinks can be done without using CO2 or any artificial ingredients.

"If you walk into any grocery store, the explosion in the popularity of sparkling drinks is plain to see with more choices and flavors than ever before, but why buy off-the-shelf when it is healthier, cheaper, and more fun to create your own drinks at home?" Darren Hatherell, CEO of Spärkel, said in a press release. "With Spärkel, we created a system that lets people use the freshest ingredients and convenient carbonation process to experiment and unleash their creativity in a way that is kind to their wallet and the environment."

Users can place any kind of ingredients they wish—berries, citrus, cucumbers, etc.—along with their drink of choice—water, tea, cocktails—into the 25 oz. (750 mL) bottle and choose what level, from one to five, of fizz they'd like to have added to their drink. The sealed chamber generates CO2 naturally from a sachet of Spärkel Carbonator powder, which is "made of a special granulation of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate." The CO2 bubbles are cycled through the liquid, and within a couple of minutes, you have a completely personalized sparkling drink.

On top of all that, the beverage maker is suitable for any number of usages from water and juices to cocktails. It also comes in nine different colors—black, white, gray, yellow, orange, red, blue, green, and pink—so it can match up with whatever kitchen palette you have.

To get your hands on the Spärkel, check it out on Indiegogo, where it's available for a pre-sale price of $59.
