I’ve got a decent sized bag of corks saved up over the last few years. I sorted out a few memorable ones but want to do something productive and recycle the rest, ideally in support of a charitable cause.
The only real option I am seeing is Recork, but I’m a little suspicious about them. They’ve collected over 47 million corks and planted… 8,000 cork trees in Portugal. (Presumably these trees are primarily for the benefit of wine cork manufacturers? I wasn’t able to determine this relationship from Recork’s site, but it seems like it might just be free trees for the Portuguese cork industry. And they only “have plans” to plant trees in North America.) It looks like they’re also essentially a subsidiary that gathers corks for a for-profit shoe company, SOLE. While it’s great that Recork is putting consumed corks to use, I don’t want to basically be “footing” the bill for a shoe company’s sole production where their cork supplier only does a nominal environmental service so it can look like a service organization. Based on my understanding of what they do, I certainly wouldn’t donate money to an organization like this–it seems odd to donate some other good they will use in the same way.
Or do you think that 8,000 cork trees planted is a sufficient return on the free materials they’re getting? Am I mistaken about Recork? If not, are there other better organizations out there that can put old corks to use for the common good, either by selling them and donating the profits, or by directly using them charitably? How do you put your old corks to a good use?
Is this for real? How valuable do you think your old corks are? I think it’s fantastic that someone tries to keep old corks out of landfills, personally.
It is for real… I’m obviously not deluded that I’m sitting on a gold mine of corks, but it seems like in the aggregate of wine drinkers they could actually be useful. Recork seems premised on this somewhat. My understanding is that they’re not really recyclable in the same way that glass bottles are. At the same time, it feels stupid to just throw them in the landfill. I guess we could interpret what you’re saying is that yes, 8,000 trees is a nice offset for donated corks.
Indeed. Even without the 8,000 trees, just keeping a load of cork out of the landfill is enough (assuming environmental cost of picking up, cleaning, grinding up is efficient enough). It’s not like donating your cash (in which case I strongly support knowing a lot about organization). I carry corks to Grapes in White Plains (Posner) sometimes, I think Recork might be organization.
Sorry to be cranky, but I run a non-profit that works with the needy. In the past week I’ve had
a) a woman spend 10 minutes telling me how valuable her deceased uncle’s suits were. I told her we appreciated the donation, but I can only certify she donated 9 suits, as we don’t sell I can’t put a value on them (that’s between her and IRS, pointed her to sites that gave value ranges). Then we opened bags- suits were like polyester Sears suits from 70s/80s- 7 out of 9 not something we can give to someone applying for a job.
b) someone very concerned that the old coat that she was giving away got to “the right person.” Preferably a veteran, who isn’t using drugs or alcohol. I’m supposed to shepherd her coat through the volunteers distributing- what, pee in a cup and we’ll do a quick test to see if you deserve a 15 year old $50 retail jacket?
c) a guy who said “I’ve got great stuff for you” and left 4 bags that were damp and mildewed.
Sorry to whine. But yes, even if they didn’t plant any trees, if it cork gets re-used it’s probably a plus. Absent a local sheltered workshop that makes bulletin boards, Recork seems fine. I’d worry more about your cash donations than your corks.
We save our corks… We have crafty peeps who beg us for them… I could give away boatloads of them… Sad part is after 14 commercial vintages I have gone 100% screw cap this year… I hate cork to no end, it has caused me nothing but problems…
Go to any craft store they should mug you for them …
Chris, they really do not degrade all that well (and probably even less so in a dry climate like where you live). I’ve tried them with compost and years later still get a noticeable cork out of it. I’m wondering if these can be turned into charcoal (?), but usually bark does not make good charcoal.
We use reCork in our store. I do not know about all of their claims but as others have stated, it keeps corks out of landfills. Hopefully, they do something nice for Portugal like planting trees. I know they recently started a kickstarted for their own business of making completely “up-cycled” shoes that didn’t get that far https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/recork/recork-imagine-carbon-negative-footwear/?ref=kicktraq. I have felt all along that I am “footing” someone’s bill but really what else can a store who ships about 200 pounds of corks a year supposed to do?
This is really cool. About the best art/craft use I’ve seen for expired corks. Maybe I’ll commission him to make something from our corks… in about ten years.
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