In honor of the Superbowl, my friends and I pitched in and got a keg to truly show our love for the game. After the evening festivities ceased I was rather surprised to notice that our house was not nearly as messy as it should have been and I figured the keg was the primary reason for this. On a day like this one, you have a decision to make; keg or can? After a bit of research, it really turns out that purchasing a keg is far more environmentally friendly than going out and buying 165 12 oz. beers (wow that's a lot of beer consumed). Although, these 165 beer cans (or bottles) can be recycled, it requires a good amount of energy to do so and remake them into new products again. Kegs also come with zero packaging involved, which is also recyclable, but may often end up in the trash from students who are unaware of their actions.
The distribution channel also comes into affect. Yes, kegs are heavier and the energy expended transporting these from one place to another may have external effects but with kegs being virtually endless, it certainly outweighs the alternative of the constant transportation of non-reusable beer cans. If you really wanted to go all out, they do make plastic kegs and environmentally friendly keg shells!
A few tips for all you beer drinkers alike:
- Consider ordering an organic beer or two
- Hops, barley and wheat are heavily laden with fertilizers which are bad for the environment
- Buy a local brew
- This will leave less of an impact on the environment due to transportation costs
- Order beer on tap
- Many restaurants do not recycle their bottles (which also come from kegs, for the most part, if you were unaware)
- Recycle your empties
- This ones a no brainer, come on people.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/04/02/keg-eco-friendly-beer-drenched-showdown/
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