Yes To Cork — Save Forests, Jobs and the Iberian Lynx

I much prefer real corks to those spongy synthetic ones, but what are we supposed to do with them afterwards? Any good (easy) way to recycle/reuse?

Phil, here in Sydney they can be donated to Taronga Zoo, who sell them to a reprocessing plant. It in turns makes floor tiles, boat decking, cricket balls (the inner bit, under the leather outer) and noticeboards from the corks. Many people collect them to make their own pin boards. In the US try the excellent recycling company Yemm and Hart for their cork recyling project.
Or if in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland or Canada then cork masters have a few leads that might be helpful.

Sorry, I'm not seeing the connection here.

"75% of the cork forests in the Mediterranean might be lost within the next 10 years"

Do the forests die if we don't harvest them? Wasn't there a cork shortage a few years ago, thus spawning the need for synthetic corks and more screw-tops?

This conversation is frustratingly unsustainable.

The frustrating part is that no one is talking about the wine. Some estimate that as much as 10% of wine is 'corked', spoiled by contact with the cork itself. Wine corked with synthetics has 0% spoilage from that source.

Wine is a highly concentrated product. We grow vast fields of grapes, filled with nutrients and water, using fossil fuels. We pick them and process them over a period of years, mashing and fermenting, transferring to barrels, then bottling and cellaring, all of this requires electricity, often from fossil fuels. Finally we ship it all around the world, also with oil. After years of the winemakers work and all of this energy use, we have a 10% spoilage rate, because of the cork.

Cork is in no danger of falling into disuse. Cork flooring, cork fabrics, cork wall coverings; there are plenty, perhaps too many uses for the cork. The Iberian Lynx is safe from lack of trees. I don't know if they are safe from monoculture attitudes, though.

Serious wine drinkers are demanding screw tops. They are less environmentally damaging, and there is no wine spoilage.

I'm curious in the same way Kody is...how would forests be LOST if we aren't cutting the trees down? I was under the impression that screw-tops and wine boxes were actually more ecofriendly than corks. How is this a step backward?

The forests die if not we don't harvest the cork simply because the forests are farms. It's like skipping bread to save the wheat. No demand for wheat? Something else finds it's way on to the land. Heck, the same goes for North American lumber.

Trees are not cut down to harvest the cork. The implication in WWF's report is that if cork use decreases, the value of the land currently used for cork production will shift toward development. The question is, is the use of cork for other purposes - as Ruben lists - sufficient to offset the reduction in its use by vintners?

Also, cork and glass are much easier to recycle than wine boxes.

I live in the south of Portugal, one of the worlds' top cork producing areas. Cork is most commonly exported for use in the wine industry. If that market all but disappears, the value of the land will depreciate, and the forests will most certainly disappear to be replaced by tourism developement. More concrete and less green belt - not something to look forward to.

Maybe it's not so bad. Just as Americans are now rethinking old engine technology and SUVs, so too the French are turning towards the screw-cap vintage. yes, increasing French vintages are using screw cap as a superior product. However, they are followers of those great wine innovators and technologists, the Australians, who are predominantly screwy. have faith, if the French do it too, then the rest will follow. Especially if Wine Spectator says so.

I don't see WWF as being anti-wine nor wanting to waste the energy inherent wine production and distribution. But currently cork stoppers are the bulk of the industry. Cork fabric, for example, is made from the waste of stopper manufacture. It is the decline in the demand for cork per se that concerns WWF. Cork trees may be cut down, if their market value drops due to failing demand. From the WWF site: "Without proper conservation and demand maintained for cork oak in the market place, the future of Mediterranean cork landscapes — its biodiversity and the thousands of jobs that depend on it — will disappear." What is required is a sustainable market demand for cork - in an appropriate application - whether its stoppers, or flooring, or whatever, that encourages cork farmers to retain their forests.

The fate of cork farms, and the accessory impact on their local ecosystem, appears to be linked to the value of their product in the marketplace. I recall that there is an essay out on the web that frames the Dr. Seuss story of the Lorax in terms of the need for ownership. The trees protected by the Lorax were in public space, and so were exploited without stewardship, and were wiped out. Had they belonged to the Once-ler, instead of being public, he may have taken the time and effort to sustain them.

There would be no corks if we didn't harvest them in the same way there would be no milk if we didn't have pregnant cows and then more cows. It's a chicken and egg thing...I like corks!