FALL/WINTER 2014 • FLOURISH 17
and wine corks account for 60 percent
of all recycled cork. Cork ReHarvest,
which is affiliated with Cork Forest
Conservation Alliance, collects corks
and sends them to regional recycling
centers, which use them for a variety
of consumer and industrial purposes,
even using a special process to mold
some ground-up cork into cocktail
tables and chairs. In addition, they
resell some of the corks for the cottage
industry in arts and crafts.
Corks have a way of bringing out
creativity. They're the ideal closure for
wine bottles, but owners of wine bars
eventually accumulate a mountain of
used corks and have to figure out what
to do with them. When Sissy Blanchard
of Gourmet au Bay in Bodega Bay
found herself in that situation, she
came up with an innovative solution.
"We needed something decorative,"
she says, so she started putting corks
in wine barrel planters around the
base of plants and on the ground as a
landscaping accent, and as time went
on, she made a surprising discovery.
"It looks cute," she says, but when the
layer of corks is thick enough to hide
the soil, it keeps weeds from growing.
Whether it's for landscaping, insula-
tion or the latest style, cork is making
its mark as a versatile, sustainable
material. Every bit of the bark is used,
with zero waste, and that's good for
people and the planet. n
Got Corks?
Napa Valley Vinters and Whole
Foods Markets collect used wine
corks for Cork ReHarvest. Look
for the tall, brown collection
bins near the checkout stands at
Whole Foods, or visit Napa Valley
Vintners' office in St. Helena.
biodiversity
Cork forests are notable for
their incredible biodiversity.
Second only to the Amazon rain-
forest, they are home to 13,000
species of plants, insects and ani-
mals, including the endangered
Iberian lynx.
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At ACE Printing not only do we print solely with
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