12 Reasons to Use Cork Wine Stoppers

We hear about cutting down trees: deforestation, killing monkeys habitats, cutting bamboo forests killing panda habitats, but what about Cork? It it really eco friendly? Here we are with cork flooring, wine corks, cork walls, cork shoes, is this good or bad?

Come to find out we need to use more cork! It is one of the most sustainable materials that you can use. You don’t kill the tree by harvesting cork. In fact, killing the tree is like throwing way money. Once the tree gets to the age of about 25 (they live to be 300 years old) harvesters can start stripping the bark of Cork Trees about every nine years and it is renewable.

10 Reasons To Use Cork

1. Local sustainable farming/farmers will go away if there is no more market for cork. flora and fauna make up a diverse biosphere.
2. Over 2.7 million hectares are planted. If the cork industry disappears so will the cork forest.
3. If the cork forest disappear, most likely the land will become desert.
4. Endangered species such as the Iberian Lynx and Iberian imperial eagle  live in Spain and Portugal Cork Forest.
5. According to the  World Wildlife Federation (WWW), a surface area of cork oak equivalent to a fifth that of a football field harbors 135 species of plants.
6. Over 100,000 jobs are equated to cork production,
7. 50,000 tons of cork stoppers produced every year.a study by The World Wildlife Fund estimated that up to 75% of the Mediterranean’s cork forests could be lost within 10 years if the trend toward plastic stoppers and screw tops continues.
8. Results of using cork wine stoppers: each plastic stopper released 10 times more CO₂, whilst an aluminium stopper releases 26 times more CO₂ than does a cork stopper.
9. CO2 Absorption Each year, cork oak forests account for 10 million tons of CO2 absorption in the 2,200,000 hectares of cork forest worldwide  A harvested cork stores up to 5x more carbon than an unharvested tree. .
10. One of the most eco friendly and renewable materials.
11. Myriad of uses: clothing, accessories, flooring, walls, tableware, shoes, furniture.
12. Other Properties of cork: fire retardant,biodegradable, buoyant, elastic, impermeable, renewable, lightweight.

We all know about Cork Crafts, but what are some other ways that people are using cork> We have come up with some unusual ways that people are using cork.

1.) Klara Plaskova has created a whole wardrobe out of cork. Skirts, vests, purses, eyeglasses and more.

2.) Indianas Formentra from South America uses cork and wood from South American trees.

3.) Furniture

4.) Making houses, not just flooring and walls.

There are cork surfboards, cork purses, airplanes and shoes. Cork has a multitude of uses but wine stoppers are number. The next time you reach for that bottle of wine or olive oil.. Take the the cork.

Resources 

• Information on Cork and Cork Trees 
• World Wildlife Fund  Cork Oak Landscapes
• Rainforest Alliance 
• Fair Companies– Excellent article on Cork as an endangered Mediterranean heritage.

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