In which container is the cork thrown?

As stated by Ecoembes (the system that manages the recycling of packaging in Spain), the consumer must deposit the products made with natural cork in the organic container , the brown container , so as not to hinder the recycling of the containers, but they assure that they receive very few corks. The recovery companies are then in charge of managing it and sending it to controlled landfills or to some energy recovery system.

Corks that have already been used cannot be reused , especially if they have contained liquids or have been in contact with food or other organic or inorganic materials that leave residues, since they are deteriorated or with product remains and the industries cannot re-admit them. . Although it would be possible to recycle it, that is, to take advantage of the material after treating it properly. However, there is a lack of a recovery system such as that of glass or containers and, although there is some experience in this regard, there is currently no good structure for recycling cork and doing so, for the moment, would be expensive and could contaminate more .

Recycling unused cork has both environmental and economic benefits . It supposes a saving of resources, transformation or transport. In addition, when it is possible to recycle even used natural cork, apart from the advantages already mentioned, green jobs would also be generated in this sector.

While used natural cork cannot yet be recycled well, we give you several Ideas to reuse cork stoppers , one of the most used products made with this material.

The white cork or expanded polystyrene (EPS) , also called polystyrene or styrofoam , is a foamed plastic material derived from polystyrene and is used for making packaging or as thermal and acoustic insulation in building.

Among its characteristics are its lightness, hygiene, resistance to humidity, salts, acids or fats and its ability to absorb impacts, which makes it an ideal material for packaging fragile products. In addition, as it is not a nutritive substrate for microorganisms, it does not rot, mold or decompose. This makes it an ideal material for packaging fresh products, so we can easily find them in the form of a tray in vegetables, fruits, butchers, fish or ice cream shops.

In supermarkets we can easily find it in the form of a tray in the fish, butcher, fruit, vegetable and ice cream parlor sections.

White or polystyrene cork is a totally recyclable and 100% reusable material . With it you can form blocks of the same material and make raw materials for use in other products. After use, it must be deposited in the yellow container that is intended for plastic containers.

Three main methods are known for recycling white cork :

• The main recycling method, which has been used for decades, consists of mechanically shredding the material and subsequently mixing it with new material to form EPS blocks that contain up to 50% recycled material.
• Another technology currently applied for recycling is mechanical densification, which consists of applying thermal and mechanical energy to the foams to transform them into more compact particles that can be handled more easily.
• New methods are also being studied to dissolve foams in different solvents for easier handling.

As we said, Spain is one of the main world producers of cork and the main cork oak forests are located along the Mediterranean coast, Extremadura and Andalusia. The cork sector is a particular industry that is favorable even for biodiversity, because the disappearance of cork oak trees would cause serious damage to the environment. For example, the biodiversity of hundreds of animals and plants would suffer, the natural environment would be more exposed to erosion and desertification, the capacity to absorb CO2 would be lost, rural employment would fall or the beautiful Mediterranean landscape would be damaged.

According to those responsible, this sector employs around 3,000 people and that in addition to producing stoppers (85% of business volume), different industries use cork for its insulating properties, its buoyancy and its lightness.

If you want to read more articles similar to In which container is cork thrown away? , we recommend that you enter our Recycling and waste management category .