Cork Recycling

Photo Source: Teemu R.

Whole Foods Market announced this week their new, company-wide wine cork recycling program.  In partnership with Cork ReHarvest, drop boxes for cork recycling will be available throughout their 292 store locations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.  According to the Whole Foods press release, an estimated 13 billion wine cork are produced each year.

Upstream cork harvesting is quite the sustainable practice.  Unlike most wood, harvesting cork does not require cutting down trees.  The cork comes from stripping the bark off trees every 9-12 years.  The Mediterranean claims one of the largest cork forests in the world.  The 6.6 million acres of forests extends across Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia and France.  These forests support one of the world’s highest levels of biodiversity, second only to the Amazon Rainforest. 

Recycling cork is important because it keeps this highly reusable material out of landfills.  Cork material can be recycled into anything from flooring tiles, to shoes to decorations for wine enthusiasts.