December 30, 2008

pop the cork

In anticipation of popping open the bubbly for New Year's, I thought I would give some thought to all those corks.

I was so glad my friend Pauline told me that I could compost my natural wine corks (not the plastic ones, mind you). Goodness knows I've been composting several over the holidays! Most resources I checked with agree that the natural corks are good for compost, though some websites say they can take awhile to break down.

I also had come across this display in Whole Foods which I thought was interesting:


ReCORK America
is a pilot program in California and the Pacific North West to recycle natural cork wine closures. The program is focused on obtaining used and surplus corks from winery tasting rooms, bottling lines and quality assurance laboratories. In addition, collection locations are being established with key retailers (including Whole Foods) and restaurants in larger metropolitan areas. A list of current collection locations is available on their website. This may be a good option if you live near a participating drop spot and do not compost on your own.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mom,
Thanks for helping out with the ReCORK America pilot program. The Montado forests, the cork oak trees, the farmers, the cork oak industry, the wildlife and the fauna, they all thank you! Your readers can learn more about the Save Miguel campaign as well on our blog:
http://wicanderscorkoakblog.com/2008/08/07/save-miguel/

Mindful Momma said...

I certainly didn't know you could compost wine corks! I'll be trying that - thanks for the tip!