Cork Recycler and Footwear Maker Join Forces

By Ciara O'Rourke
PhotoReCORK America A cork recycler and a footwear maker will divert millions of corks from landfill and incorporate them into shoes.

When it launched its program to divert used wine corks from landfills in 2007, ReCORK America, a wine cork recycling program sponsored by Amorim of Portugal, struggled to find a viable means to recycle the used plugs.

The program collected 500,000 corks in its first year, and has now accrued nearly four million from wineries and retailers like Whole Foods Markets and, most recently, American Airlines.

Many of the corks were sent to a certified factory in Portugal for remanufacturing — a tack that proved costly and racked up a large carbon footprint.

Now the recycling program has found a partner closer to home.

The company has announced this week a new partnership with SOLE, a Canadian company that has developed a cork blend for its footwear products — one that will bring “rebirth to the product line,” according to Roger Archey, a spokesman for ReCORK.

Under the new partnership, SOLE will provide ReCORK with nation-wide marketing in exchange for the donation of cork.

“A trade-in, in kind,” Mr. Archey said.

The majority of the 13 billion wine corks sold into the market each year wind up as waste, and a number of companies and organizations are trying to find a use for the stuff.

Yemm & Hart in Missouri has converted 8,000 pounds of used cork into flooring tiles since 2005, and the TerraCycle Cork Brigade has 1,000 collection teams working to move cork out of the waste stream.

Since launching its pilot program in Oregon and California, ReCORK has started collecting in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York. It’s a work in progress, Mr. Archey said.

“We test how it works and learn as we go,” he said. “We’re incrementally growing, which is gratifying.”

Comments are no longer being accepted.

David October 6, 2009 · 10:54 am

Isn’t cork just tree bark? Why is it so important to prevent tree bark from going into landfills? Just throw them on the ground and let nature reclaim them. What’s next? Are we supposed to turn orange rinds and banana peels into shoes as well?

Nat Solomon October 6, 2009 · 1:04 pm

Many wine companies now use non-cork plugs (aka non-natural corks) for their products.

What if anything, are these companies doing to recycle their non-cork plugs?

Patrick October 6, 2009 · 1:08 pm

I have to disagree with David. I understand that it was tree bark, but being able to reuse the item allows for another product that would normally be used in making shoes not to be used. Why not reuse something that is just going to be thrown out instead of having to use brand new cork that could be used elsewhere?

Patrick
//www.paystolivegreen.com

Chris October 6, 2009 · 2:38 pm

Reusing anything another time is better than making a new product. So, yes, orange rind and banana peels should at least become compost. It’s just illogical to throw something away that is perfectly useful. The key in this case is to limit the transportation footprint, and ReCORK has clearly taken a step in the right direction.

Nat, it looks like Terracycle and Nomacorc are working on recycling synthetic corks, but a market needs to be created and the only way to keep them out of the landfill is the same as regular corks: groups like ReCORK have to collect them from consumers. It’s next to impossible to filter them out at municipal recycling centers even if people started throwing them in recycling bins.

The best thing that can come of these programs is for consumers to learn about the benefits of using real cork. It is renewable and it’s production has a much lower carbon footprint than synthetic corks or aluminum screw-caps. If more wine makers move away from real cork, wine industry greenhouse gas emissions increase and cork forests are threatened.

Philip October 6, 2009 · 3:34 pm

Is there a way to donate saved corks? While I do not have “tons” I have saved a lot (attempts at a failed cork board).

Who to contact? and How? In NYC.

voyage home loans ca October 6, 2009 · 5:24 pm

This is great! Now i will feel even better when i polish off a bottle of wine! Seriously we all need to do our part and finding alternative ways to re-use our otherwise waste products is awesome. My company has reduced our printing of paper by almost 40% in the last 6 months and our office runs on 100% solar power. We all need to do what we can, if not for us then at least for our kids!

N. Peter
Voyage home loans

Chris BJ, China October 6, 2009 · 6:45 pm

You all are completely missing the point.

“The best thing that can come of these programs is for consumers to learn about the benefits of using real cork.”

NO! Cork can only be harvested from the trees once every 15 years. After it is harvested you have to wait another 15 years. The supply of cork around the world is diminishing and if trends in the consumption of wine continue we will have a shortage of cork soon.

The best thing to do is to switch to plastic screw on tops. This is a minimal amount of plastic (compared to the already existing billions of soda bottles consumed everyday). That way the price of cork wont sky rocket and affect other products that use cork.

“If more wine makers move away from real cork, wine industry greenhouse gas emissions increase and cork forests are threatened.”

Your logic just does not add up.

Wang Suya October 7, 2009 · 12:55 am

It is nice to recycle cork, many thing should start like this. 3R should start like this. If many thing like this we can start a sustainable way.

brad October 7, 2009 · 10:32 am

I tried composting our used wine corks, but after nearly two years in the composter they haven’t broken down. I guess I’d need to put them through the chipper first. They should decompose, but clearly it takes a long time.

Nuno October 7, 2009 · 11:11 am

I’m sorry Chris BJ, but it’s you that are not seeing the point.
Cork oak forests represent one of the best examples of real sustainability – the development of the economic, environmental, and social functions of forests. The cork oak tree has a lifespan of around 170 – 200 years, during which time it will be stripped around 15 – 18 times (every nine years). After the harvest, the bark renews itself until it is ready to be harvested again, none of the trees are cut.
Besides its superior quality as closure, cork stoppers have numerous advantages (environmental and social values) that clearly distinguish them from the alternative wine stoppers, specifically plastic stoppers and screwtops (aluminium). Besides also this, cork is biodegradable and recyclable and has manu other positive impacts.

Jason October 7, 2009 · 11:59 am

Cork forests are not being depleted and the supply is not shrinking (except for demand). The wine industry has long been seeking a closure that doesn’t contaminate it’s product (kinda logical to look for that, no?) and thus provides more consistency. Portugal has been funding a number of measures like this to encourage more cork use, emphasize cork’s sustainability, and decry alternative closures for any reason they can think of. It’s protectionism, plain and simple. I fail to see how recycling the corks is beneficial to the environment given the tremendous inefficiencies in reaggregating them to Portugal or even a shoe factory somewhere.

Lumbergh October 7, 2009 · 1:59 pm

Wood cork is just dreadful. Cork taint ruins 3-5% of all bottles. “Natural” corks are “cleaned” with toxic chemicals like sulfur dioxide (the active ingredient in acid rain) or hydrogen peroxide (burns skin) or chlorine (think dioxin). The toxic effluents from cork factories end up in some Portuguese ecosystem.

Also, the carbon footprint of all closures is negligible when compared to the carbon footprint of the glass bottle, or to transport the precious bottle from France or California or Australia to your local retailer.

Please send the cork bits straight from the factory to the shoe maker, and skip putting it in my wine altogether?

Mongo October 8, 2009 · 11:59 am

On putting cork, or orange peels, in the landfill: Sanitary landfills are designed to stop decomposition. Every day a layer of wood, dirt, concrete, and ash is spread over that day’s discards in order to stop decomposition, which generates smells, provides feeding ground for birds, allows waste to blow around (and out of the landfill), etc.

The point of all this? It takes natural products years to decompose. I’ve heard of completely legible newspapers from 50 years ago being recovered and intact banana peels. It’s estimated that it could take compostable items as long to decompose as it would plastic items.

Recycling may be the lowest form of sustainability. Reduce first – Restaurants use casks and decanters instead of individual bottles, eg., or other ways to prevent the need for a cork. Reuse – come up with a cork that can be used over and over. Upcycle – add value to the cork by turning it into shoes, flooring, etc. Recycle – Shread the cork for daily cover?

Rob December 2, 2009 · 12:46 pm

No, natural cork is not running out. This is disinformation started by the plastic bottle closure companies.

Yes, there is some protectionism involved for the Portuguese cork industry.

BUT – they have also increased their QC and taken massive steps to reduce TCA taint in wine bottles, and have reduced it to more like 1%, or lower.

Plus, the cork industry does not just serve its own interests. It employs a huge amount of people and more importantly sustains a very important environment, the montado. Without the cork industry we will lose lots of species of animals (Iberian lynx, etc.) and an amazing source of carbon dioxide sequestration. Natural cork actually reduces the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by sequestering it. So landfilling cork, which will prevent it from breaking down any time soon, is actually beneficial to the environment. You are actually burying CO2. If the cork is first used to replace petroleum-based materials in a shoe or whatever, even better. The product will then eventually end up in a landfill, where the CO2 will be sequestered. And it is always best to use a sustainable, natural material rather than oil-based materials.