Green Logistics: Whole Foods Goes Global with Cork ReHarvest

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Whole Foods announced this week that it would be recycling wine corks via Cork ReHarvest in all its 292 stores in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. In a previous Blog, I reported that Whole Foods was doing a pilot program with ReCork but that evidently that relationship faltered. Cork ReHarvest was spun out of Willamette Valley Vineyards in 2008.

Beginning in April 2010, Whole Foods will begin collecting corks from customers. The corks will then be send to various reprocessing centers for recycling into new products. Corks from the West Coast will go to Western Pulp in Corvallis, Oregon to be made into recyclable wine shipping containers. Midwest corks will go to Yemm & Hart, a manufacturer of cork floor tiles. East Coast and UK corks will be used by Jelinek Cork Group to create a variety of cork products.

Ninety nine percent of the 13 billion corks used each year have historically ended up in landfills. Continuing to use corks for wine is environmentally friendlier than fake corks (made with petroleum products) and screw tops (not recyclable in the US). Cork is a sustainable resource, harvested from trees, many over 300 years old.  The tree is not harmed and thousands of farmers depend on cork production for their livelihood.

Congratulations to Whole Foods for taking this big step forward to end waste in our food supply chain. Now my wife has another reason to get me to stop collecting corks along with wine....