Watch: Save the Beaches by Drinking Beer?

Okay, let me start by saying that this seems like a really small-scale thing, but it’s a concept that could be really great for our planet.

(Yeah, I know. I rarely use terms like “our planet,” but here it seems applicable.)

What we have is a small machine that turns beer bottles into sand. Why? Well, to reduce commercial dependence on natural sand.

Sand is required to make all kinds of things, and lots of it is dug up from beaches. Do I buy into the alarmist buzz that we are running out of sand? Not exactly, but it’s true that sand is finite. So why not reuse it when you can?

A New Zealand beer company called DB Export has come out with a machine that will pulverize a beer bottle and turn it into sand, or at least, a sandlike substance that will work just as well for construction and other commercial uses. The “beer bottle sand” is then collected and given (that’s right, they say “given,” not “sold”) to companies that can use it

This machine lets drinkers instantly crush their used bottles. A vacuum system removes silica dust and plastic labels, leaving behind pure glass sand.

Every bottle pulverized makes about 200 grams (7 ounces) of sand.

To make a difference, to help protect their beaches, New Zealanders can now drink a beer.

Of course, it’s a great marketing ploy. They never say that their machine will work for anyone else’s bottles, and the opening in the machine doesn’t allow anything other than beer bottles to be inserted. Wine bottles, pickle jars, and the like can all take a back seat. (Because DB Export makes beer…)

And it begs the question: What are their bottles made from? Should they instead be striving to wash and reuse the bottles to prevent their own bottles from using up precious natural resources?

Either way, it’s an interesting idea, and a well-made video. Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/7uOukrxj4sY

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.