Forest Wines now has an official Cork Recycling Station! This means you can finally let go of that cork collection you started ages ago, but never figured out what to do with, and free up some space in your house: all while helping the planet!
We’re one of many collection partners for a swiftly growing organisation called Recorked UK. They’re trying to make sure we don’t add to those pesky landfills by throwing our corks away when we finish our wine. By reselling corks in the form of crafts and cork-based products, Recorked UK is able to donate a percentage of their profits to some incredible charities dedicated to helping the environment. They also donate corks to schools and organisations that can use them for art or diy projects! Pretty nifty, eh? Check out their journal for some craft ideas if you’re not quite ready to get rid of that collection.
So, why is it so important to recycle corks at these stations?
Because it’s not as widely used as say, paper, cork is made from organic material that isn’t yet widely recycled. However, they don’t break down well in general waste either! They need to be properly composted in order to fully break back down on their own.
Seems like a lot of hassle. Why don’t we just stick to screw-on bottle tops, crown caps, or plastic corks?
Well. I won’t go into most of the ongoing debate around corks being a good or bad decision for winemakers. There are many sides to that, including considerations of a wine’s longevity, aging bottles, economic input, risk factors like mold and oxygen, and on and on. Those aspects are important, but also won’t be resolved in one blog post. Beyond the wine-based reasons, plastic corks and metal tops aren’t renewable or biodegradable resources, aren’t usually recycled and add unnecessary waste to the wine and beverage industry. Cork, on the other hand, is made from harvesting the outer layers of bark on cork trees (there are entire forests still alive because they’ve been used to make corks!) every nine years. So no trees get cut down in the process, and the trees get plenty of time to grow and thrive to make sure they aren’t being damaged by these harvests. So the cork industry is simultaneously supporting sustainable forestry and creating a 100% naturally derived, multifunctional product.
We don’t want the sustainability of our corks to end when they leave our bottles! This is where Recorked UK comes in to save the day. So bring in your corks after you’re done using them, and drop them in our recycling station on your way out! We’ll send them along to Recorked, who’ll make sure they live on long after you’ve finished that lovely wine.
Author: Sophia Tupy