The future is here, and it’s arrived in the form of six-pack rings that are safe for marine life. Florida’s Saltwater Brewery created the rings, which are made of barley and wheat remnants from brewing, and are completely safe for fish to nibble on. (And humans, too!)

Standard rings, made of plastic, are no bueno for sea critters. According to the Ocean Conservancy’s 2015 Ocean Trash Index, plastic was the most common item of trash ingested by sea turtles in 2015. And it’s not just sea turtles: 57 marine mammals, 440 fish and 22 sharks, skates and sting rays were found entangled in plastic by the 561,895 volunteers that picked up 16,186,759 pounds of trash for the study.

And the plastic problem isn’t just because of dirty, rotten litterers: plastic rings are easily picked up from open trash cans and blown away by the wind. If that plastic ends up in a storm drain, it will eventually get to the ocean. – UPROXX

Florida has given us a lot of crazy things over the years: leprosy infected armadillos, LSD steaks and mayors who refuse to give out directions. But now it seems like we have something to celebrate out of the Sunshine State, as Saltwater Brewery, based out of Florida, has created six-pack beer rings that are eco friendly. As seen in the video and article linked above, the rings are made out of barley and wheat remnants, so if they happen to reach the ocean (spoiler alert: a lot of them do) they won’t harm marine life. Being a lifelong Rhode Islander with the beautiful Atlantic ocean only a 30 minute drive away, it’s awful to look at some of the pollution stats that are coming out. This isn’t the final solution to water pollution, but it’s a big step in the right direction. If Saltwater Brewery can get some of the bigger beer chains to join them, we’d be looking at much cleaner oceans in the near future. To read more, check out http://www.saltwaterbrewery.com/community-swb/.

-Ryan