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I think a very simple (and cost-effective) solution to the problem with plastic ring beverage holders would be to weld a small ring of .030 steel safety wire to the can, so that the plastic is clamped to the can. This would make it so that the only way to remove the plastic is to break it, simply by
pulling. The steel wire will easily cut the plastic, and with minimal effort on the part of the consumer. To protect the consumer from being pricked by the end of the wire (trust me, it can be quite painful), simply cap the end with a small ball of wax or plastic. This would save the eco-friendly consumer the trouble of having to cut each ring by hand afterword.
It also saves the manufacturer from having to spend millions of dollars replacing their existing machines with something completely different, which makes it more likely for manufacturers to comply with the proposed change.
(edit) My apologies for being so inconsiderate. Of course, this idea was inspired by the "Cowgum Six-packs" idea, originally posted by [DrCurry]
inspiration?
Cowgum_20Sixpacks
[po, Jan 30 2006]
[link]
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Not a bad idea, frankly I'm surprised it hasn't already been baked in some form or another. |
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That wire and wax ball goes right into my eye, every time I take a drink. But it tastes so good, I can't stop. Until I cant see the can. |
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I'm sure perforated plastic would be a simpler and cheaper solution. |
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It's easy enough to create plastic with tear strips without any wire inserts - look at medicine bottle packaging. |
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But you're still leaving the landfills full of plastic ring clutter. Now reinforced with wire. |
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And using wire makes this economically unfeasible - metal is much more expensive than plastic. |
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.030 steel wire is actually quite cheap. I've used this stuff on just about every part of my plane to hold stuff together, along with .032 steel wire and .030 copper wire. It's all very cheap. When CTK ran out once, I've actually gone to the hardware store and bought a sh*t load of it myself, when I was making Airman's pay. The risk of putting out an eye is negligible because I'm talking about a tiny ring smaller than the diameter of a dime. Unless you're washing your eye out with the stuff, it wouldn't come even close. |
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I would think it more practical to have the six-pack holder incorporate a "zip tab" which would sever the rings when pulled from the proper direction. Perforating the rings without incorporating such a tab would likely result in either the rings remaining unbroken when cans were removed, or else in rings breaking prematurely. |
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I'm having trouble winnowing some sense out of this one. |
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"Possesses a whole sixpack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together." |
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Why not just make them biodegradeble, maybe from water? That way you save the environment, and possibly a few fish along the way. |
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Not sure if this is possible even, I don't know much about the making of plastics. |
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Now all you have to do is figure out how to weld steel to aluminum. |
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