Years ago, somebody posted a bunch of stuff about the effect of discarded plastic sixpack rings. These are the things that hold the cans together-supposedly, when discarded into the ocean, birds and mammals (baby seals) get them tangled around their necks and drown. I haven’t seen anything on this topic in years…so was it true? are the rings really lethal?
Yes. You may have seen pictures of Peanut the turtle, for example (though she survived.)
Not just 6-pack rings but all plastic is dangerous to sea life.
It never made much sense to me because it was sold as if this was something everyone should do all the time.
But if you were conscientious enough to cut up the rings, you probably weren’t the kind of person to throw them in the ocean or leave them on the beach in the first place. The vast majority of rings will be thrown away in a proper receptacle which would decrease the likelihood of them ending up on sea life to practically nil.
The Straight Dope addressed this issue a long time ago regarding other animals. The same holds true.
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What are the real facts about entanglement?**
Environmental myth has a solid hold on the perception that six pack rings are a leading cause of entrapment. While ring carriers are part of the environmental landscape, fact of the matter is that fishing line, rope, miscellaneous debris, plastic bags and the like, are far greater risks based on data from The Ocean Conservancy, International Coastal Cleanup, conducted annually since 1988.
What percentage of entanglements involve six-pack rings and how many animals were entangled?
International Coastal Cleanup, the only empirical database on debris on the ocean and waterways, has generated a substantial amount of statistics and data on debris and animal entanglements. The 2010 information from the Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Cleanup shows entanglements from 6-pack carriers to be less than 1.5% of the total entanglements, reporting a total of 6 animals entangled. For more information see 2011 Marine Debris Report from the Ocean Conservancy.
I work with the recycling program for the ring carriers, which is available to anyone who doesn’t have local #4 plastic recycling available. Please see www.ringleader.com if you would like more information.
Well, that’s a first: somebody signing up to quote the website they signed up for back to itself.
Do they still make those rings? I haven’t seen them since I was a kid. Multipacks of cans tend to be shrink-wrapped nowadays.
Gatorade uses them and they’re strong enough to strangle an elephant let alone a seagull.
Yep. I buy six-packs of pop all the time with them. I always make sure to snip them before I throw them away.
Me too. I can’t bring myself to throw one away without cutting it to pieces. It’s a habit that will never die.
Also, I just threw away a ton of old plastic grocery store bags today, and I cut through all the handle loops beforehand.
Pepsi (probably Coke and others, too) 6/8 packs of bottles have them, but they’ve made them with a tear-strip of sorts along the two longer sides. There’s a tab at the end you can stick your finger through and pull, and the plastic connection between bottles has perforations so it tears pretty easily.
One of the better “verbing the noun” euphemisms I’ve heard lately.
Gimme a sec. I have to go “strangle the elephant”.