Come to WillaKenzie to recycle your corks! We have partnered with Cork Forest Conservation Alliance (www.corkforest.org) to become a collection point for used corks. These corks will be reincarnated into those pulp shippers used for wine shipping. We are really happy to be helping out a local organization; especially one, which directs affects the wine industry.
Here are some things we learned from Patrick Spencer, Executive Director at CFCA (Cork Forest Conservation Alliance):
- Cork is a natural, renewable, recyclable and biodegradable material that is obtained through environmentally friendly harvesting process.
- Trees are not cut down to harvest cork; rather the bark is hand harvested every nine years. Cork oak trees live up to 200 years old.
- The cork forests extend over 6 million acres across Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
- Containing one of the world’s highest levels of forest biodiversity, this region supports ecosystem services including air quality, climate (eg CO2 sequestration), and prevention of erosion.
- Cork oak trees store carbon in order to regenerate their bark, and a harvested cork oak tree absorbs up to five times more than one that is not [harvested].
You can recycle your corks at WillaKenzie Estate’s tasting room daily 11am to 5pm.
