Whole Foods launches wine cork recycling program

AUSTIN, Texas Whole Foods Market has introduced a wine cork recycling program through a partnership with Cork ReHarvest in all of its stores.

"We often forget that cork is a renewable, recyclable material that does not belong in landfills," said Erez Klein, wine and beer buyer for Whole Foods Market's Pacific Northwest Region. "Whole Foods Market is excited to make cork recycling more accessible to our shoppers. Cork ReHarvest allows us to help sustain cork forests, a critically important resource for our planet, and to do so with near effortless local community action."

West of the Rockies, corks will be delivered to Western Pulp, where they will be turned into recyclable wine shippers containing 10% cork. In the Midwest, corks will be sent to Yemm & Hart, which produces cork floor tiles. And on the East Coast and in the United Kingdom, corks will be transported to Jelinek Cork Group, one of the oldest cork manufacturers in North America, where corks will be made into post-consumer products.