I have often wondered what to do with old wine corks (the wood kind, not the screw tops or synthetic ones).
When I was learning more about composting, I did read that they can be composted. However, those sources are always quick to add that they don't compost well and that they can take ages and ages to break down.
So, needless to say, I haven't gone that route.
But I happened to stop by Whole Foods this weekend to drop my #5 plastics into the Preserve Take Five bins and noticed this logo on a box next to the plastics drop off:
I jotted down the web site to check out from home.
Well whattya know...you can recycle corks! And this cool company can help you do it.
Here are some facts about wine corks directly from them:
Environmentally Friendly Harvesting
Cork is a 100% natural, renewable, recyclable and biodegradable material that is obtained through an environmentally friendly harvesting process.Hand-Harvest for Long Life
Trees are not cut down to harvest cork, rather, the bark is stripped by hand every 9-12 years. Cork oak trees can live up to 300 years!Supporting Great Biodiversity
Approximately 6.6 million acres of Mediterranean cork forest extend across Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia and France. These oak forests support one of the world's highest levels of forest biodiversity, second only to the Amazonian Rainforest.Providing Livelihood
Opting for screw caps and plastic stoppers directly causes the loss of sustainable livelihoods as the cork forests are a vital source of income for thousands of families.Utilization of A Great Resource
There is enough cork in the cork forests of Portugal and Spain to last more than 100 years. The introduction of new products, such as composite corks, allows even better utilization of existing cork resources, using granulated cork that can be obtained from smaller pieces of raw cork otherwise unusable in the production of conventional punched cork.
So back to the recycling program. Similar to the Preserve Take Five program, different partners sign up to collect corks.
At my Whole Foods, there was a receptacle right by the front door to drop corks in.
To see if there is a participating partner near you, just visit Cork Reharvest.
Are there random things you have always wanted to find out if you could recycle?
