What to do with Corks? Trash/Compost/Recycle??

[Markus_S]

There used to be a recycling kiosk that got taken away when (fill-in the blank)… sad ever since.

[Guillermo_M]

33532973-F9A8-49C7-80AA-7934AE544067.jpegturned in my sister’s corks for recycling recently. Look closely and you’ll see she’s no berserker and why I’d never waste a great wine on her!

Wow, that’s like $100 worth of two buck chuck.

[dougwilder]

Sell them on Facebook Marketplace. I know it is not much but got $60 for 800 corks.

I toss my corks in a box until its full. It takes about 10 to an oz. Extrapolated to 38 pounds, I now have about 6000. Smaller quantities seem to go for more than $12 a pound. A cork ceiling in a wine cellar would be a nice look!

[Uli_K]

I collect the high quality ones, and recycle the lesser.

[John_Glas]

Sell them on Facebook Marketplace. I know it is not much but got $60 for 800 corks.

I toss my corks in a box until its full. It takes about 10 to an oz. Extrapolated to 38 pounds, I now have about 6000. Smaller quantities seem to go for more than $12 a pound. A cork ceiling in a wine cellar would be a nice look!

Or a cork table in the cellar.

[PHuff]

My wife has been collecting our corks and she plans to use them as placecard holders for our daughter’s upcoming wedding reception…

[B_Buzzini]

And how are the corks used a the wedding?

Some sort of centerpieces.

[Nate_Simon]

For what it’s worth, our local municipal waste folks have a new state-mandated “organics“ program where you are supposed to put anything that is compostable into one bin. They state that wine corks are included, so presumably they can be returned to nature in some way.

[David_Baum]

Total wines has a collection box when you enter

[Ian_Sutton]

I thought this forum had a lot of people that liked soaking them?

[Vince_L1]

Thanks Everyone. Looks like I have to go out and look for stores that actually have those collection boxes … they seem to have disappeared over the past 2 years and maybe they’re starting to come back.

Does anyone know if Diam/Vinc/etc. are compostable? Or are we supposed to trash them? Recycle them?

[GregT]

I hoard them. No plans for crafts or recycling, I just collect them. Like belly button lint.

I gave a bunch away a few years ago but it left me with an empty feeling.

What did they do with your belly button lint? Knit sweaters?

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

Combo of hoard-with-intentions-to-recycle and Trash. There are some vague plans to make a couple trivets, too, but I’d say it’s pretty obvious by now that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

[lleichtman]

We give it to a friend who makes trivets out of the clean ones.

[Philip_G]

Thanks Everyone. Looks like I have to go out and look for stores that actually have those collection boxes … they seem to have disappeared over the past 2 years and maybe they’re starting to come back.

Does anyone know if Diam/Vinc/etc. are compostable? Or are we supposed to trash them? Recycle them?

Whole Foods takes them. Ask at the customer service counter and they will typically just take them to the back for you.

[Eric_Michels]

We have found that you can post a bag of corks on any of the neighborhood selling/giving sites (Craigslist, Nextdoor, BuyNothing) and people will gladly come to haul them away for you. I assume that they are making the same kinds of projects described above.

[PaulMills]

I hoard them. No plans for crafts or recycling, I just collect them. Like belly button lint.

I gave a bunch away a few years ago but it left me with an empty feeling.

What did they do with your belly button lint? Knit sweaters?

Blankets. There was a lot of it.

[Mel_Knox]

In SF we put out three bins, one for recycling, one for compost and one for trash. If you out your cork in the compost bin it gets ground up and composted.

If you do your own composting I suppose you could cut the cork into little pieces and speed things along.

[David_Wright]

A member on the board has an avatar similar to this:

[J_Blum]

I’ve saved corks and made a few trivet trays to put plants on in the past - but now Jan 1 I start filling up an empty basket and then they go into the yard waste bin at the end of the year.