Natural cork
Nature conservation: Nabu takes stock of the cork campaign
Natural corks can be taken to collection points throughout Germany. photo
© Christiane Bosch/dpa
Whether it’s champagne, the finest red wine or a tasty white wine – many bottles are closed with natural corks. They should not be thrown away after drinking. For what reason?
Anyone who really pops the corks over the holidays can do something good for nature conservation. At least if natural and not plastic corks or metal lids close the bottles.
The collected corks can be taken to one of almost 1,500 collection points across Germany and then processed into environmentally friendly insulating granules in non-profit workshops, such as the Nature Conservation Association Nabu Hamburg announced.
In this way, appreciation for natural resources can be strengthened, especially in times of resource scarcity and circular economy, said Nabu Hamburg chairman Malte Siegert to the German Press Agency in Hamburg.
The aim of the project is to collect and recycle as many of the approximately 200 million bottle corks that are produced in Germany every year as possible. According to Nabu, only around ten percent of corks have been recycled so far. The project has existed since 1994 and since then, more than 660 tons of corks have been collected – that’s more than 160 million corks. Almost 30 tons were collected in 2022 alone.