DB Export Save New Zealand’s Beaches

Last year, DB Export asked New Zealanders to drink a beer and save the planet. In 2017, they are turning their attention to the global shortage of sand with The Beer Bottle Sand Machine.

With around 10% of the Earth’s surface covered in sand, it might seem unlikely what there could not be enough sand. However, with desert sand unsuitable for construction (too round, apparently), our increasingly developed world is having to take from its beaches more and more to keep up with building demand.

Luckily, Colenso BBDO have worked with DB Export, a New Zealand-based brand owned by Heineken, to solve this problem by creating machines that recycle beer bottles, turning them into a sand substitute to be used in construction.

Putting an empty into one of the machines, your beer bottle is obliterated in just 5 seconds, creating 200g of sand substitute with a fairly terrifying-sounding wheel of small hammers spinning at nearly 3000 RPM. Although to be fair we’ve all had hangovers like that after drinking DB Export or other available beer brands, as does the vacuum system that removes silica dust and plastic labels from the bottle as it is being smashed. See it in action in handy gif form below:

With this campaign. Colenso BBDO aim to follow the successes of 2016’s Brewtroleum campaign, winner of the outdoor Grand Prix at Cannes Lions. In this campaign, the breweries of DB Export turned their leftover brewer’s yeast into biofuel, selling it as a cleaner alternative to petrol in New Zealand fill-up stations. This campaign continues, with a third batch of the fuel to be released in 2017.

On the more recent initiative, Colenso BBDO creative chairman Nick Worthington noted that “Brewtroleum’s success came through finding partners who could make the idea more than advertising. We’re thrilled to partner with the country’s biggest construction companies to make DB Export Beer Bottle Sand a viable alternative to beach sand. And we’re excited to work with DB Export drinkers to ensure a reliable supply of empty bottles.” So get drinking, Kiwis, and save your favourite place to drink!