Corks- March Challenge Material

The Repurposing Challenge material for the month of March is used corks from local wineries. Although corks are not typically recycled, there is an organization called Recork that will take them back and recycle them.  They are a company that produces cork for wine stoppers and shoes, but also aims to recycle the natural cork and educate people about how sustiaining cork forests can help curb climate change.   To find a drop box for used corks in your area go to http://recork.org/locations/.  The drop box location for the Columbia Gorge is Springhouse Cellars located in Hood River.

As I was attempting to collect used corks from the many wineries in Hood River, I found that many people create using corks.  The people working in the tasting rooms all said that customers come in often to ask for used corks.  I am happy to hear that all of the tasting rooms collected the corks, and gave many of them away for further use.   Natural corks should never be thrown into our waste stream since they are made from a natural material.  If nothing else, they can be mulched and composted.

If you would like to join in the March Challenge of creating with corks, you can pick up as many as you need from the Columbia Art Center or the Hood River library.  The library is graciously putting the Repurposing Challenge projects on display in on top of their reference shelves on the main floor of the building.  Go check out the projects and pick up some corks while you are there.

Projects are due on Thursday, April 5th and will be on display at the Columbia Art Center during First Friday on April 6th from 5-7pm.  If you cannot bring in your project, please send me a photo so I can include it on my blog post in April.  As alway, contact me if you have any questions.