When a person thinks of cork, they may think of a variety of things. Some people may think of the material used for bulletin boards, while some may think of material used for coasters. Others, thoroughly confused, may simply think of cork as the other white meat. Chances are, however, when most people think of cork, they think of wine. Part of each other's lives, the two are nearly inseparable, especially without a wine opener.
What is Cork?
It would be easy to define a cork with a simple, unrefined answer. We could say that cork is a lightweight, inert substance providing blockage of liquids and leave it at that. But, because cork is an elemental part of wine, it is bestowed with certain elegance and sophistication. For this reason, wine cork deserves a more grandiose introduction: Cork hails from the bark of the Cork Oak tree, Quercus Suber. Produced extensively in Portugal, cork enjoys being fire resistant, providing insulation, and the company of fine alcohol.
Since cork is very elastic and impermeable, it makes a great bottle stopper; for cork, just like for many of us, wine was destiny. Its adaptability, additionally, makes it an easy material to compress without change to the original shape. It was these qualities that intrigued Dom Perignon, a French Benedictine monk, to use cork in a bottle of Champagne, thus influencing the world of wine from that moment on.
How Do Wine Corks Affect the Environment?
Wine corks are environmentally friendly, like a material that is always willing to lend a helping hand or an encouraging word to the ecosystem. This makes wine corks stand out from other forms of packaging, forms that often hinder their surroundings rather than help them.
Wine corks are biodegradable, natural, and renewable. They also don't go to waste, with each aspect of a wine cork having the potential to become something else. Even cork dust can be used for fuel and cork residue can be used to make other cork products.
Cork forests, where cork oak trees reside, are important to the balance of the ecosystems with several species, including endangered species, calling these forests home.
What is Wine Cork Recycling?
Many places, such as Europe and Australia, have programs set up for wine cork recycling. Dropping wine corks off in designated areas, the wine corks are granulated and turned into products such as pin boards, tile, engine gaskets, hockey balls, safety mats, and boat decks. Recently, wine cork has even been used in rocket technology.
Article comments
1 - monroe
hello-
i live in the u.k., part of europe, and would like to know where/who does the cork recycling that you refer to in this article. i can find some who reuse cork but can not find anyone who actually wants them for recycling use as you describe in this blog.
any pointers?
thanks.