Recycork: from cork to insulation material

Do you also pop pedal buckets full of corks every year? Instead of throwing them away, you can keep them and turn them in to De Vlaspit vzw. They turn them into the certified insulation material Recycork.

Cork is harvested from the bark of the cork oak, a tree found in the Mediterranean region. It is a high-quality, natural material that, after a single use, often ends up in general waste. Open the bottle, pop the cork, and that’s it. A shame, because cork can only be harvested once every 10 years. Due to increasing demand, Mediterranean cork oak forests are being overexploited, leading to weakened and diseased forests.

Fortunately, corks are perfectly recyclable and can even be upgraded. In Belgium, Vlaspit vzw manages a national network for collecting and processing natural corks. They collaborate with intermunicipal organizations, businesses, associations, and workplaces for people with disabilities. After being sorted and ground down, the corks get a second life as Recycork, a certified insulation material for homes and a raw material for various applications. The process—from wine cork to insulation granules—requires little energy, and the granules themselves have a long lifespan. A true win-win.

You can drop off your corks at the recycling park in your municipality. In some areas, there are also small-scale collection points at organizations, businesses, or with volunteers. In West Flanders, for example, volunteers from Beweging.netand the West Flanders Environmental Federation ensure that corks make their way from private collection boxes to the recycling park.