Get Involved

Get Involved

We can all make a difference. To make this program work we need your corks. We ask that you save your used, natural wine corks (no plastic or metal please) and deposit them at a collection location in your area, or send them directly to ReCORK. Your corks will be used to replace petroleum-based material in SOLE and other Re-Use Partners' products and packaging, and extend the useful life of your wine corks. By taking part in ReCORK's recycling program, you are helping with our tree planting initiative, spreading the word about the importance of the cork forests, and encouraging companies to make more sustainable products.

Are you a business that would be interested in recycling corks with ReCORK?

Click here to Become a Partner

ReCORK has three types of partners – Public Collection Partners, Recycling Partners and Re-Use Partners.

Public Collection Partners
  • Collect corks from the public and send them to us.
  • Get added traffic of people who want to recycle their corks.
  • Are listed on our site, where we encourage people to visit Partners in their area.
  • Employees of partners get a discount on SOLE products.
  • ReCORK provides marketing support materials to help raise awareness of your participation in the program.
  • ReCORK provides drop boxes for you to collect your customers' corks.
Recycling Partners
  • Send us the corks used in their own business, such as restaurants and bars.
  • Do not normally collect corks from the public.
  • Get added traffic of those who want to patronize companies who responsibly recycle the corks used in their businesses.
  • Are listed on our site, where we encourage people to visit Partners in their area.
  • Employees of partners get a discount on SOLE products.
  • ReCORK provides marketing support materials to help raise awareness of your participation in the program.
Re-Use Partners
  • Buy granulated cork from ReCORK to use in their own products, reducing their use of petroleum by-products and reaping the benefits of cork's natural performance attributes.
  • Employees of partners get a discount on SOLE products.
  • Can help with cork shipping if they have excess space in their trucks, etc.
  • Can help increase the ReCORK Partner network by encouraging their partners to join.

Corks to be recycled are shipped to our locations in Montana and California. We grind the corks and then use them in SOLE and other Re-Use Partners' products and packaging. We offer pre-paid mailing labels to send us a minimum of 15lbs. of cork at a time (half of a collection box). Please send the corks in used cardboard boxes. For larger partners, if you can fill one of our 30,000 cork collection bins, we will take care of the shipping cost to our processing center. We are building a national collection network as we speak.

100% Cork

Businesses can also help by visiting 100% Cork and pledging to buy or sell only wine preserved with natural cork, and to encourage their family, friends, and local retailers to do the same.

Contact our partner relations department to find out more.

Are you an individual who would be interested in recycling corks with ReCORK?

01. RECYCLE YOUR CORKS AT A LOCATION NEAR YOU

The simplest way is to drop off your corks at a Public Collection Partner in your area.

02. SIGN THE CORK PLEDGE

Join the 100% cork movement by signing the petition to major wine manufacturers and retailers at 100% Cork.

03. SHIP YOUR CORKS TO US

If there is no partner in your area, send your corks directly to us. Please see directions below.

04. BUY PRODUCTS MADE FROM RECYCLED CORK

One of the best ways to enable sustainable business practices is to spend money on companies who promote sustainability and value it as a corporate ethic. Buying products made from recycled corks enables ReCORK to continue the useful life of your corks. SOLE's cork footwear products will be available beginning in the Spring of 2010, and the target is to use ReCORK recycled cork by the Spring of 2011.

05. PATRONIZE YOUR LOCAL RECYCLING PARTNERS

These are restaurants, wine bars, and vineyards that send their used corks to ReCORK. Help them in their efforts to recycle by having a glass of wine!

06. TELL US YOUR IDEAS

Be sure to share your ideas and comments about this program with us. This is a grassroots effort open to new ideas and innovative thinking. Remember, you can make a difference, one cork at a time.

Shipping corks directly to ReCORK

Please do not send them to us one at a time, as this creates a large carbon footprint. We request that you wait until you have at least 15lbs. (around 1650 corks, or one big cardboard box) of cork to be shipped, to be as sustainable as possible with current shipping options. Please fill a used cardboard box with the corks, and contact us for a call tag (pre-paid shipping label). ReCORK will pay for shipping boxes that are at least 15lbs. If you have multiple, smaller boxes to send us, please tape them together to form one big box and give us the overall weight. In addition to the actual shipping charge, we are charged for each additional box! So one big box costs a lot less than multiple smaller ones.

If you only have a small amount of cork, please drop it off at a collection Public Collection Partner, rather than shipping it to us. Encourage your friends to save their corks and you can combine them all to reach 15 lbs. much faster. Your other great option is to compost the corks. This sequesters CO2 and creates great soil.

ReCORK Dropbox