Machine Crushes Beer Bottles Into Sand to Save New Zealand Beaches

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Drink beer, save the environment. That’s the rallying cry of DB Breweries, a New Zealand-based company helping to combat the global sand shortage.

The firm, as reported by AdWeek, built a fleet of machines that crush empty glass bottles into a sand substitute, used to save the nation’s “pristine beaches.”

Sand is used in everything from construction to pharmaceuticals; a major ingredient of mortar, plaster, concrete, and asphalt, businesses often collect beach sand in bulk. As a result, according to DB, two-thirds of the world’s beaches are retreating.

“Amazingly, the answer to the sand shortage could be to drink beer,” the company said in a promotional video (below).

The machines—likely for use in bars and restaurants across the island—recycle empties right before your drunken eyes. Push the container through a bottle-shaped hole, then watch as a vacuum system removes silica dust and plastic labels, leaving behind pure glass sand. Each bottle produces 200 grams of powder substitute in about five seconds.

DB Breweries

DB Export Beer Bottle Sand will be distributed for roading projects, commercial and residential construction, even golf bunkers. The brewery is currently finalizing a two-year deal with DryMix, New Zealand’s largest producer of bagged concrete, AdWeek reported.

DB Breweries

“Kiwis, we love our beaches, and we love our beer,” Sean O’Donnell, marketing director at DB Breweries, said in the video. “So wouldn’t it be great if you could have a beer and do something for the environment? I mean, that’s pretty exciting.”

Tipplers can look for the “Drink DB Export, save our beaches” label on the neck of local beer bottles—a reminder to salvage the container.

“We can’t solve the problem alone, but we knew we could do more to help,” O’Donnell told AdWeek. “We’re proud to launch an initiative that can help us do our bit to protect our beaches for future generations.”

This recycling program follows 2015’s successful “Brewtoleum” campaign, in which DB turned leftover yeast from the brewing process into clean-burning, conflict-free biofuel.