It’s renewable, recyclable, biodegradable and 100% natural. If we had an award here at Practically Green for an all-around environmentally friendly and sustainable material, it would be the winner.
Can you guess what it is? Cork!
Yep, that little stopper in your wine bottle is an across-the-board eco-friendly substance. Which also means that it is prime recycling material. But we rarely think to collect all of those wine bottle stoppers piling up in our kitchen drawers and dispose of them efficiently. In fact, they’re pretty easy to lose track of once you pop open a bottle of your favorite organic wine or bubbly.
The useful life of cork is extended through recycling. Almost 60% of the world’s cork is used in wine production, so that’s a lot of cork that could be diverted from a landfill and used to manufacture a range of products such as floor tiles, place mats, memo boards, coasters, shoes and bags. Organizations dedicated to recycling natural cork, such as Cork ReHarvest and ReCORK by Amorim hope recycling will raise awareness of the usefulness of cork and help to create a greater demand for it.
Recycling also saves resources and reduces the demand placed on cork plantations. According to Cork ReHarvest, cork forests are highly important to the planet’s ecological health because they absorb millions of tons of CO2 each year and are a vast provider of oxygen to the planet. The cork forests of the Mediterranean Basin are among the most sustainable and environmentally harvested forests in the world. Trees are not cut down to harvest cork, rather, the bark is stripped by hand every 9-12 years. (Fun fact: cork oak trees can live up to 300 years!) We can support these responsible practices by recycling and reusing cork products.
Fortunately, there are many practical uses for recycled cork. From flooring to trendy new bags from Cork Chic, the uses for recycled cork almost seem endless.
A unique way to reuse your cork stoppers is to make your own cork board or coasters. There are kits available on Amazon that supply you with the wooden frames, glue and instructions, and then you provide the cork from your favorite bottles of wine (or all the corks saved in a box in your pantry!)
But if you’re not the arts and crafts type (don’t worry, some of us aren’t) you can find cork drop-off locations in your area through ReCORK by Amorim or Cork ReHarvest. These two organizations are not only focused on recycling natural cork, but educating the public on the importance of the Mediterranean cork forests for the world’s ecological balance. Whole Foods has launched cork recycling bins in most of their locations as well.
Susan just dropped off a load of wine corks to Whole Foods and Sarah is planning to do the same. And although I have another 6 months (not that I’m counting) until I can buy a bottle of wine, I plan on recycling the cork stoppers during my Whole Foods runs…although the homemade coasters are tempting. So what do you think? Recycle your cork at one of the many locations, or are you an adventurous arts and crafts type? Either way, you can earn 10 points for this action, so give it a try!
Photo Credit: Amazon.com and Flickr
Today’s blog post by
Lindsey O’Connor
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