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I seldom get drinks with these anymore, but I’ve been cutting them up since I was a kid. Always heard of wildlife getting strangled in them. I thought it was BS but did it anyways because it was minimal effort. With the advent of cameras in every pocket and the internet, I saw pictures of turtles and felt suddenly justified.
https://preview.redd.it/3pudbeeyp75d1.jpeg?width=889&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df5da91a10e63bd0f4c2f7da222379ae6f695fa3
I also cut them for stray animals. I’ve been cutting them for the turtles for years too. Recently, I saw a video where a dog was digging through trash for food and encountered one of these uncut.
Reinforced it to me that I was doing the right thing, but also I AM SO GLAD that so many of us are still doing this. These comments made me smile really big.
I know gatorade just switched to the biodegradable version they just developed.
I still cut them, but hopefully if a turtle ends up corseted by one of these, it'll rot away before it does significant damage.
Coke is using a paper version. At least in the North East
https://www.packworld.com/sustainable-packaging/article/22379487/cocacola-bottler-unveils-us-first-paperboard-multipack-to-replace-plastic-rings
Agreed. I've seen many companies make disintegrating paper rings that are plenty sturdy and hold up for shipping but will fall apart if they end up outside in the water and heavy rain and I really wish other companies would follow suit. The planet deserves this effort. We owe it so much at this point.
These are being banned in Canada and I’m sure USA won’t be far behind. I work in food packaging and we’ve been working on how to solve for this for a few years now. If companies have distribution in Canada, they are likely to just use the same packaging in the US by default, so it’s coming!
Also, I love everyone in the comments that’s committed to not buying these. There’s a diabetic in my household that needs sugary drinks sometimes and they often have these stupid plastic things.
Hopefully, although the damage is already done. They get stuck in them when they’re small and as they grow these deformities happen, that shell won’t grow bigger, but maybe any organs it’s compressing can function a bit better.
I think that's Peanut the turtle. Apparently the people who found her took her to the St. Louis Zoo to have the rings removed. She's still alive and kept at the nature center at Table Rock Dam where they use her to teach about the dangers of littering, at least as far as I know.
As of 2022 [she was still doing fine](https://www.ksdk.com/article/life/animals/peanut-turtle-missouri-anti-littering-birthday/63-a900c2d7-600d-46e2-886f-eb7a1842d3d6).
She turns 40 this year!
I was told by my older siblings and one of my teachers the same thing, although more emphasis was placed on birds, so I've been cutting them up since childhood. As a matter of fact, I noticed one on the floor near a restaurant that is undergoing remodeling. I went over, picked it up, and tore every circle/hole with my hands.
Same, every time. It seems insane because our world is filled with so much plastic bullshit that we throw out every single day, probably fucking up all the other sealife in horrible ways but those PSAs from my childhood have instilled a lifelong guilt in me. Only around this one specific plastic product though 🥴
Agreed. I grew up in Missouri, and when I was young my family (mostly from Missouri, Iowa, and Texas) called it pop, though I migrated to soda when it seemed more common among my peers to say soda. But I also occasionally heard people in the area call it coke.
I learned a year ago I'm part of a Gatorade cult and didn't know it
Apparently Lime Cucumber/Limon Pepino is controversial.
I'd bathe in that shit if given the chance.
My Gen Z niece doesn’t cut them. She also doesn’t recycle even when there is a recycling bin present. I’m constantly pulling things out of the garbage can while asking her why she hates our planet and the wild animals that live on it.
90% a myth anyways. As long as there's *some* plastic recycling ongoing, there will likely be enough to meet demand for recycled plastics.
Glass and aluminum is good to recycle of course.
Everyone moans about the glue dots coz they’re really strong. But yeh I’ve got four Guinness in the fridge with glue dots and four madri’s in cardboard
Earliest usage traced back to 1895 in rhyming slang. Donkeys ears = years. Apples & pears = stairs. King Lear = beer etc. at some point along the way it was shortened to donkeys outside the east end of London
I don't reckon I've seen these in Australia in a decade. I thought they were banned. There's a harder plastic version of them where the top of the can clips into the circle (which is solid, i.e., no holes something could get stuck in).
They've been banned in NZ for so many years I had forgotten they even existed. Same with the little plastic ring that used to be in the bottle caps to help seal them - we used to stretch those things to wear them as bracelets when I was a teenager.
I’m not sure if you live in a parallel world or not, but I have neither seen nor heard of these glue dots you speak of, and I bought a six pack yesterday with the rings
Yes!
I almost threw one out without cutting it up and there was this involuntary compulsion the forced me not to. Then I shook my head while cutting them.
Apparently I can be easy to control.
Also : is it better to remove the cap on single use plastic bottles so they sink to the bottom of the ocean, or put the cap on tight so it floats on the water?
The reason I ask is because a lot of USA waste gets sent to Southeast Asia and they often just dump it.
I remove the cap because they're different types of plastic that get recycled differently. (and because I like to hold onto the make-believe that plastic actually gets recycled)
Yes, sea turtles. Never thought of doing it till a cashier at sheetz told me to cut the rings because of the sea turtles. Took him 2 seconds to say it and I do it all the time. Stuff like that does make change
I dont buy products that use those for packaging. I used to work in a distribution warehouse, and I'll never buy anything that uses 6 pack rings. I can't tell you the amount nasty shit that comes into contact with the top of those cans before it gets to the store shelf.
I use to play the dolphin game when I was with friends and one of these needed to be broken up.
What you do is get 6 people together and you all put your hand thru one of the links. Then you count to 3 and make a dolphin noise as you all pull away from eachother. Whoever is left with the ring on their wrist has to drink, while the rest of the rings are all broken from the other pulling away.
I haven't bought anything that used these in probably 15 years, anyone confused on how I don't drink soda and I make my own tea and alcohol but if I did buy something that used these yes I would cut them open.
Last time I had a 6-pack, they were turning the rings into those perforated tears so you don't need to find a tool to cut them. My brain loves the satisfaction of tearing them up, so at least one of my desires helps the environment. Now everything seems to be in cardboard, so the cat has a temporary apartment.
Lol, I never knew to do it, PLUS my family RARELY ever bought a 6 pack of sodas, so I can probably count on one hand how many I’ve witnessed my fam throw away 😂
No. It goes on my trash which goes to the local landfill a couple miles away, bagged. No real reason aside from absurd unrealistic hypothetical scenarios,
Yeah, at the end of some episodes they would have some kind of public service announcement and in one of them, Leo saved a bird caught in those, threw it in the air, sliced it up with his sword, and let the pieces fall in a pond 😂
Yes, and I can’t buy mahogany either. I still feel a bit guilty about eating macadamia nut cookies. I can’t throw away bottles and cans in the trash, release balloons, or keep the lights on when I leave the room.
Save the ozone layer.
Save the turtles.
Save the rain forest.
Save the whales.
Save the wolves.
A millennial childhood was one guilt trip laden campaign after another! 😩🤣😆
I remember in second grade my best friend gave me some save the otter stickers! That was the legacy of oil spills.
Now, I wish someone had saved affordable housing, walkable cities, and reasonable college tuition.
i'd wager that for most of you cutting up 6 pack rings living in a major metro area, your trash goes no where near a turtle habitat and is pretty immediately buried by more trash in a constant stream of trucks and bulldozers dumping and tilling trash. Just because someone threw a six pack ring in a creek and it snared a turtle, has no bearing on whether your 6 pack ring that you place in your trash needs to be cut up or not.
look up your local municipal waste landfill location . Thats where your trash is. take a visit over there. Its definitely an eye opener in how much trash major metros produce.
..and yes.. my wife cuts these up anyways as well because it makes her feel better because of the various imagery projected on various media around animals stuck in these rings over the years--despite the fact our trash gets trucked to a big trash mountain. that is tilled and filled constantly by an army of bulldozers.
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I seldom get drinks with these anymore, but I’ve been cutting them up since I was a kid. Always heard of wildlife getting strangled in them. I thought it was BS but did it anyways because it was minimal effort. With the advent of cameras in every pocket and the internet, I saw pictures of turtles and felt suddenly justified. https://preview.redd.it/3pudbeeyp75d1.jpeg?width=889&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df5da91a10e63bd0f4c2f7da222379ae6f695fa3
That’s horrifying! I’ll keep cutting them for that poor little guy
I also cut them for stray animals. I’ve been cutting them for the turtles for years too. Recently, I saw a video where a dog was digging through trash for food and encountered one of these uncut. Reinforced it to me that I was doing the right thing, but also I AM SO GLAD that so many of us are still doing this. These comments made me smile really big.
That’s terrible! They should ban these death traps
I know gatorade just switched to the biodegradable version they just developed. I still cut them, but hopefully if a turtle ends up corseted by one of these, it'll rot away before it does significant damage.
Coke is using a paper version. At least in the North East https://www.packworld.com/sustainable-packaging/article/22379487/cocacola-bottler-unveils-us-first-paperboard-multipack-to-replace-plastic-rings
That is so cool! And it makes so much more sense!
Easier to recycle, too!
Agreed. I've seen many companies make disintegrating paper rings that are plenty sturdy and hold up for shipping but will fall apart if they end up outside in the water and heavy rain and I really wish other companies would follow suit. The planet deserves this effort. We owe it so much at this point.
Or a box like a 12-pack.
These are being banned in Canada and I’m sure USA won’t be far behind. I work in food packaging and we’ve been working on how to solve for this for a few years now. If companies have distribution in Canada, they are likely to just use the same packaging in the US by default, so it’s coming!
Also, I love everyone in the comments that’s committed to not buying these. There’s a diabetic in my household that needs sugary drinks sometimes and they often have these stupid plastic things.
I hope whoever took the picture removed that from the turtle afterwards.
Hopefully, although the damage is already done. They get stuck in them when they’re small and as they grow these deformities happen, that shell won’t grow bigger, but maybe any organs it’s compressing can function a bit better.
I think that's Peanut the turtle. Apparently the people who found her took her to the St. Louis Zoo to have the rings removed. She's still alive and kept at the nature center at Table Rock Dam where they use her to teach about the dangers of littering, at least as far as I know.
As of 2022 [she was still doing fine](https://www.ksdk.com/article/life/animals/peanut-turtle-missouri-anti-littering-birthday/63-a900c2d7-600d-46e2-886f-eb7a1842d3d6). She turns 40 this year!
40 with that figure? Damn, all the other turtles are either mad jealous and/or talking shit behind her shell about her having work done.
Thank you for making my day just a little brighter.
Yeah, seeing an image like this (years ago before AI. 1990’s) as a kid. It stuck with me and I cut them. SO thinks it’s mildly weird.
Show them the photo.
I was told by my older siblings and one of my teachers the same thing, although more emphasis was placed on birds, so I've been cutting them up since childhood. As a matter of fact, I noticed one on the floor near a restaurant that is undergoing remodeling. I went over, picked it up, and tore every circle/hole with my hands.
I'm going to start doing so.
100%. I don't want turtles dying because I was too lazy to cut that up.
https://preview.redd.it/zbaeodtnw75d1.jpeg?width=1014&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08816ab46aa8abf01f5dddf94583916afd63d94e
New fear unlocked
You spelled “kink” wrong.
Omg I used to do this with one of the neighbor's sons when we were in our teens. This comment reminded me of where my kink originated from.
https://preview.redd.it/ej3vgn3tqb5d1.jpeg?width=722&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=edfd282c767a2314f7af3cf62364f16cc9373b16
I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about this comment and it hurts my head.
Kink fear unlocked
This took me the fuck out!
Modern day problems need modern day solutions
The dork in me laughs at the joke. The minister in me says “oh no that’s terrible practice”
Cleatus' Game
OMFG 😂😂😂
💀
Same for the ducks
Safe word must be Loggerhead
anyone who doest is an ass.
Same, every time. It seems insane because our world is filled with so much plastic bullshit that we throw out every single day, probably fucking up all the other sealife in horrible ways but those PSAs from my childhood have instilled a lifelong guilt in me. Only around this one specific plastic product though 🥴
Right?! We need to hire whoever did those PR campaigns to save the turtles for other save the planet campaigns today.
Are they going to inevitably end up in the ocean? I know recycling is far from perfect, but bad to the point of just dropping everything in the sea?
I like that intense dedication
Seriously. This man is going to be in my head now every time I cut em. Im probably gonna shout it to myself too.
Lmaooooo
Lmfao this wins
I don't buy anything that uses them tbh Most cans I buy come in cardboard or singles.
I buy a boxed can pop because I hate trying to pull a drink out of those stupid fucking sturdy awful goddamn plastic rings fuck I hate them
It's so funny to see other Americans call it 'pop' Love it. Grew up west coast - only known it as soda lol
In TX, it's Coke, unless it's Dr. Pepper. That's just Dr. Pepper.
I grew up in WV, and we called it pop. I moved to NC in 2005 and I got laughed at because it's soda down here.
I think pop is a Canadian thing?
It's all over tbh It's a Midwestern thing too They call all soda "Coke" around Georgia, apparently.
Agreed. I grew up in Missouri, and when I was young my family (mostly from Missouri, Iowa, and Texas) called it pop, though I migrated to soda when it seemed more common among my peers to say soda. But I also occasionally heard people in the area call it coke.
Calling all soda "coke" drives me insane. One of my cousins does that and it's like ear sandpaper to me lol
no in canada we call it Clown water
Oh I call it pop, but I'll start saying Clown Water from now on. I don't want to seem weird
Good Boy
I grew up in MN, and we called it pop. At some point as a teenager, I decided that was uncultured or something and started calling it soda.
Yeah, I think except for a road trip where I might grab a 6-pack of 20oz sodas, I haven’t even seen those plastic rings since I was a kid.
Gatorades come in those still, yes i chop them up before discarding 🐢💪🏼
I learned a year ago I'm part of a Gatorade cult and didn't know it Apparently Lime Cucumber/Limon Pepino is controversial. I'd bathe in that shit if given the chance.
Ps Thanks for being a turtle loving homie
Yeah I haven't seen these in some time.
Always, even the little bits, not just the main 6
Same!!!
I usually go super overboard with it and cut it into a million tiny pieces. Just to be sure.
Gotta save the turtles…and the little baby turtles.
Never understood why they started just adding more holes in the plastic getting tinier and tinier. For funzies?
To shreds you say.
Yes, always cut them so that you aren't strangling seagulls and such.
Yes. Dear god. Think of the turtles and seagulls.
How else am I supposed to save the turtles?
Of course I do. I’m not a monster.
I ain’t no turtle killer
Yup. Those turtle commercials still haunt me.
The sea turtles ain't gonna save themselves.
Yeh. I buy sports drinks that come in these and cut them to ribbons before tossing them.
Who can afford 6 beers these days?
Yes!!! I don't want a dolphin getting its mouth sealed shut because I wanted some Coke
I want some coke too.
Wait, I’ve indulged in a lot of Coke, I’ve never seen it in a plastic 6 ring…
You’ve never been to Mexico it seems
I buy the little cans and they come with the plastic rings. (And of course I cut them up.)
Protect this bean.
What kind of asshole doesn’t cut the rings?
My Gen Z niece doesn’t cut them. She also doesn’t recycle even when there is a recycling bin present. I’m constantly pulling things out of the garbage can while asking her why she hates our planet and the wild animals that live on it.
Plastic recycling is a myth unfortunately. Everything I think is legit.
90% a myth anyways. As long as there's *some* plastic recycling ongoing, there will likely be enough to meet demand for recycled plastics. Glass and aluminum is good to recycle of course.
I’ve not seen those in donkeys. All the beers these days either have recyclable cardboard or glue dots holding them together.
Whatttt the beers I buy these days have the plastic clips covering the tops. I didn’t know about any glue dots
Everyone moans about the glue dots coz they’re really strong. But yeh I’ve got four Guinness in the fridge with glue dots and four madri’s in cardboard
When and where did “donkeys” become a unit of time?
Earliest usage traced back to 1895 in rhyming slang. Donkeys ears = years. Apples & pears = stairs. King Lear = beer etc. at some point along the way it was shortened to donkeys outside the east end of London
I don't reckon I've seen these in Australia in a decade. I thought they were banned. There's a harder plastic version of them where the top of the can clips into the circle (which is solid, i.e., no holes something could get stuck in).
They've been banned in NZ for so many years I had forgotten they even existed. Same with the little plastic ring that used to be in the bottle caps to help seal them - we used to stretch those things to wear them as bracelets when I was a teenager.
Canada too
We’ve just got glue dots or cardboard. Caravan be covering the entire thing or can be just the top. For ciders as well as beers
I’m not sure if you live in a parallel world or not, but I have neither seen nor heard of these glue dots you speak of, and I bought a six pack yesterday with the rings
Donkeys?!
I've only seen the cardboard carry pack or the reusable 4/6 ring holder. Never seen glue dots
Boomer here, yes, I do.
Can’t stop, won’t stop :)
Yes! I almost threw one out without cutting it up and there was this involuntary compulsion the forced me not to. Then I shook my head while cutting them. Apparently I can be easy to control.
I did the same once. Had to fish it out of the trash
Yes
Always. Literally always.
Yeah, I do it without even thinking about it. It's just a part of the use of the things. Pull out the can, cut the thing round it into little bits.
Yes, everytime! It's because the rings get caught around sea animals and can hurt or injure them.
Yes, always
Always
Yes
Always
I recycle them with plastic bags and other such wrappings.
I had to scroll so far down for this I started to second guess myself that it was a thing. I usually still cut them first anyway.
Yes 100% every single time. The one time I went to Hawaii, they were EVERYWHERE! I picked up so so so many…. Ripped them up and tossed them.
Yes! I also noticed Gatorade has switched to cardboard instead of these stupid things.
Yup
I strong man, I rip them apart!!! (And it hurts my hands and sometimes I fail to break them so yes, I cut them)
I don't think I've ever bought anything with one of those on it. I'm not a bear drinker though 🤷♀️
I also do not drink bears.
I can't even remember the last time I've seen these in use.
Where are y’all living that you don’t have these anymore?
Washington state. Pretty sure they're banned here, but even when traveling I don't see them much anymore. Mostly the recyclable types.
I haven't bought soda in forever. But yeah, everything is boxed now. I forgot these existed until this popped up in my feed
New Zealand. Must be like ten years since I’ve seen one
Australia. Only thing I know it from is Lovelace from Happy Feet
I haven't bought anything with these in 20 years.
100% of the time CUT
Yes. The turtles.
I don’t buy these. I’d rather people just wouldn’t, either :/
Ever since I saw a video of animals getting trapped in them, I've been cutting them all open.
I just pull them apart.
You’re stronger than I am if you’re ripping these apart
No, but also haven't bought anything that comes with them in nearly a decade
Not by design. I very rarely come across them.
i put them with the recycling they better not be in the ocean
Also : is it better to remove the cap on single use plastic bottles so they sink to the bottom of the ocean, or put the cap on tight so it floats on the water? The reason I ask is because a lot of USA waste gets sent to Southeast Asia and they often just dump it.
I remove the cap because they're different types of plastic that get recycled differently. (and because I like to hold onto the make-believe that plastic actually gets recycled)
Yes
I literally don’t buy anything that comes in those things.
Always, although I've not seen them in years. I thought they'd stopped making them.
I always pretended I was an escape artist as a kid putting those on my wrists
Yes, sea turtles. Never thought of doing it till a cashier at sheetz told me to cut the rings because of the sea turtles. Took him 2 seconds to say it and I do it all the time. Stuff like that does make change
That turtles deformed shell has been burned into my mind since childhood, I always cut them.
Always!
My guy I haven't seen those bad boys in over a decade. But I always used to cut them though!
I dont buy products that use those for packaging. I used to work in a distribution warehouse, and I'll never buy anything that uses 6 pack rings. I can't tell you the amount nasty shit that comes into contact with the top of those cans before it gets to the store shelf.
I use to play the dolphin game when I was with friends and one of these needed to be broken up. What you do is get 6 people together and you all put your hand thru one of the links. Then you count to 3 and make a dolphin noise as you all pull away from eachother. Whoever is left with the ring on their wrist has to drink, while the rest of the rings are all broken from the other pulling away.
I haven't bought anything that used these in probably 15 years, anyone confused on how I don't drink soda and I make my own tea and alcohol but if I did buy something that used these yes I would cut them open.
Yes
I haven't bought anything that has those rings in well over a decade.
Yes, yes I do
I don't buy anything that has these rings lol
Who will save the wee turtles?????
Yes!
Yes. But I also avoid buying that type. Normally get 12 pack boxes
Yep, those and face mask straps. Any kind of strap really, but I save rubber bands
turtle protectors rise up
Of course
Last time I had a 6-pack, they were turning the rings into those perforated tears so you don't need to find a tool to cut them. My brain loves the satisfaction of tearing them up, so at least one of my desires helps the environment. Now everything seems to be in cardboard, so the cat has a temporary apartment.
Yup. Even found one on the beach yesterday and cut it up before throwing it out.
Always
Nope… never did…
At least you’re honest about it
Lol, I never knew to do it, PLUS my family RARELY ever bought a 6 pack of sodas, so I can probably count on one hand how many I’ve witnessed my fam throw away 😂
Same here. I might've been told once in the 2nd grade, but I thought they meant canned food cans needed to be cut and was confused.
I never even see these anymore
Yes. I want to help out in saving the sea turtles in any way that I can; every little bit helps.
I just dont buy anything using them... Not an alcohol drinker so not a problem for me
Yes
yes
Every single time
Duh if I don’t some dumb ass turtle is gonna wear it as a necklace.
Yes always
No. It goes on my trash which goes to the local landfill a couple miles away, bagged. No real reason aside from absurd unrealistic hypothetical scenarios,
Leonardo told me to so I do
Was it a Ninja turtles thing? Or are you saying that because of the turtles I mentioned?
Yeah, at the end of some episodes they would have some kind of public service announcement and in one of them, Leo saved a bird caught in those, threw it in the air, sliced it up with his sword, and let the pieces fall in a pond 😂
YES. Always.
I don't buy products with that type of packaging.
Always
Every time!
Yep
I don’t even buy em.
No. Because I don’t buy anything with them on them.
Yes. But a 2 liter is like a dollar something for the generic soda, screw the cans.
I didn't know they actually had those. Cans always come in cardboard packaging over here.
There is 500,000 miles of fishing line and 14 billion hooks in the ocean. How many fishing nets and traps? I just don't buy shit with loops.
If I didnt my mom would slap me upside the head.
Yes, because i've actually seen animals caught in them. It ain't good man. I cut all the loops, even the little ones.
Yes, and I can’t buy mahogany either. I still feel a bit guilty about eating macadamia nut cookies. I can’t throw away bottles and cans in the trash, release balloons, or keep the lights on when I leave the room.  Save the ozone layer. Save the turtles. Save the rain forest. Save the whales. Save the wolves. A millennial childhood was one guilt trip laden campaign after another! 😩🤣😆 I remember in second grade my best friend gave me some save the otter stickers! That was the legacy of oil spills. Now, I wish someone had saved affordable housing, walkable cities, and reasonable college tuition.
i'd wager that for most of you cutting up 6 pack rings living in a major metro area, your trash goes no where near a turtle habitat and is pretty immediately buried by more trash in a constant stream of trucks and bulldozers dumping and tilling trash. Just because someone threw a six pack ring in a creek and it snared a turtle, has no bearing on whether your 6 pack ring that you place in your trash needs to be cut up or not. look up your local municipal waste landfill location . Thats where your trash is. take a visit over there. Its definitely an eye opener in how much trash major metros produce. ..and yes.. my wife cuts these up anyways as well because it makes her feel better because of the various imagery projected on various media around animals stuck in these rings over the years--despite the fact our trash gets trucked to a big trash mountain. that is tilled and filled constantly by an army of bulldozers.
Never seen them in west europe
I used to, then realized all my garbage goes to a local landfill
Nope