Eat*Drink*Cleveland

Winos and Corks

I've said it before but I'll say it again - I love wine! And I've attracted lots of fellow winos as friends. Between popping a bottle and having olives, cheese, pickles and crackers for dinner on a Tuesday to elaborate rotating wine dinners, we go through a lot of wine.

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Some of us save corks and store them in a big container. Some have cats that like to steal them and hide them under the couch. Some have made cork boards and trivets from kits. But eventually you just have way too many corks!

A lot of people just toss them because they are natural and biodegradable. But did you know that it takes 25 YEARS for the cork oak tree to be ready to harvest? The cork can only be harvested from the tree every 9 years. And only the cork from the very first harvest is suitable for wine corks. See why they need to be recycled?

I was so happy to hear about Whole Foods' recycling program and wanted to spread the word because I know there's a lot of other folks up to ears in used corks. Thank you Whole Foods because I now have a way to get rid of the excess corks and save them from a landfill. Hope you'll recycle yours too.

Sarah from Cooker Girl also has another favorite place that recycles corks for you, Western Reserve Wines in Solon.

Updated: You can mail your corks to CorkClub - and they even recycle both natural and synthetic corks. (Thanks for the tip John!)

For more information check out Cork ReHarvest, Cork Forest Conservation Alliance and the Whole Foods Green Mission.