Six pack rings
Six pack rings or six pack yokes are a set of connected plastic rings that are used in multi-packs of beverage, particularly six packs of beverage cans.
History
The six pack rings in most common use today are the descendants of an original design by ITW Hi-Cone, which first introduced them in St. Louis, Missouri in the summer of 1960.[1] Within 10 years, plastic rings had completely replaced the paper and metal based holders then common in the market.[1] Today several other manufacturers continue to produce six pack rings. Though interest in multi-packs has continued to grow, other variations, including paperboard baskets and HDPE plastic can carriers have grown in popularity, providing an alternative to conventional six pack rings.[2]
Environmental concerns
Since the late 1970s, six pack rings were cited as a particularly dangerous form of marine litter as marine wildlife were found entangled in the rings, sometimes strangling to death. But since 1989, six-pack rings have been manufactured to be 100 percent photo-degradable, so the plastic will begin to disintegrate in just a few days, allowing animals to easily free themselves from the brittle and crumbling rings.[3] This is in accordance with the U.S. Federal regulation for testing plastic photo-degradation, which is 40 CFR Ch. I (7–1–03 Edition) PART 238.[4]
Six-pack rings are a relatively minor contributor to marine litter and wildlife fatalities. Fishing gear and other plastic wastes are a larger problem.[5][6]
In pop culture
- In the Futurama episode "Obsoletely Fabulous", six ducks are trapped in the same six pack ring, who are then mistaken for beer cans by the robot Bender.
- An episode of Animaniacs has the three Goodfeathers trapped in a six-pack ring, and they get themselves out of it by hiding in the cart of a hot dog vendor, who removes the ring as he just made a sale of sodas.
- The 2006 animated film Happy Feet features a penguin whose head is trapped in a six pack ring.
- In The Simpsons episode "The Old Man and the Lisa", Montgomery Burns attaches millions of "recycled" six-pack holders together into a net, which he uses to catch tons of sea life and make "Li'l Lisa Slurry".
References
- 1 2 ITW History
- ↑ "Interest In Multipacks Picks Up". Food & Beverage Packaging. 2011-02-01. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ↑ http://www.plasticsindustry.org/AboutPlastics/content.cfm?ItemNumber=712&navItemNumber=1123#sixpack
- ↑ "40 CFR Ch I." (PDF). Retrieved 2010-09-15.
- ↑ "Should you cut up six-pack rings so they don't choke sea birds?". The Straight Dope. 1999-07-16. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
- ↑ "Louisiana Fisheries - Fact Sheets". Seagrantfish.lsu.edu. Retrieved 2010-09-15.