OB Beer Launches Eco-Friendly ‘Malt Powder Golf Tee’ with Reharvest

Combining beer by-products with biodegradable plastics, OB Beer has expanded its sustainable offerings beyond food and cosmetics to include sporting goods.

OB Beer has collaborated with food upcycling specialist Reharvest to launch the ‘Malt Bone Golf Tee’ made from recycled beer waste. Beer lees, a byproduct of beer brewing, is made up of malt husks and seed husks.

In 2020, OB Beer and Reharvest signed a business agreement to develop ‘Linergy Malt’ by recycling beer byproducts. Linergy Malt has been mainly used as a substitute for flour in the food industry.

The malt flour golf tee is made by combining Linergy malt flour with biodegradable plastic. It is made into a golf tee that supports a golf ball, expanding the scope of use of eco-friendly materials.

The malt flour golf tee uses 7% less plastic than regular golf tees. It is 100% completely decomposed in nature within 6 months when landfilled, reducing the negative impact on the environment. The packaging material is also made of eco-friendly recycled pulp paper.

An OB Beer official stated, “Beer by-product upcycling is a sustainable business that contributes to solving environmental problems and leads to mutual growth based on win-win cooperation with the innovative startup Reharvest.” He added, “Through the startup win-win program, we will further expand the scope of use of beer by-product upcycling to cover food, cosmetics, and even sporting goods.”

Since 2019, OB Beer has been collaborating with promising domestic startups with innovative technologies in the eco-friendly field through open innovation. Reharvest has developed Linergy malt flour and launched high-protein, high-fiber foods such as ‘Linergy Bar,’ ‘Hanmac Linergy Crackers,’ and ‘Verb Malt Choco Ball.’

OB Beer, together with green bio venture company ‘Lapique’, has developed a cosmetic raw material using beer byproducts and launched ‘Lala Bear Beer Byproduct Hand Cream.’