Nine Pounds of Corks Collected for Cork Sustainability and Education Campaign at Southern California’s Largest Wine and Food Festival
San Diego, CA (January 6, 2022) – The Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) and the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, one of the country’s largest annual wine and food events, partnered together to promote the sustainability and education of cork closures at the 17th annual festival and culinary celebration that took place November 11 – 14. The environmentally-focused partnership resulted in collecting 9 lbs of recycled cork that is repurposed as useful materials including shoe insoles, cork boards, and more.
The 820 corks recycled at the event are enough to create 40 pairs of shoe insoles. This amount of cork represents 495 lbs of CO2 sequestered by cork oak trees, which is equivalent to the impact of driving 564 miles in a passenger car.
Through a groundbreaking sustainability initiative, APCOR and the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival provided onsite cork recycling bins for attendees and participating wineries across all events. After the festival, all corks were collected and properly recycled at ReCork, North America’s largest cork recycling program, to grind down and provide a carbon sequestration total to showcase the positive impact that cork recycling has on the environment.
In addition to providing cork recycling bins, APCOR participated at the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival by educating wine lovers about the incredible carbon sequestration properties of cork forests, cork closures, and cork material in general. Attendees of the festival were encouraged to bring their corks from home to recycle for a chance to win a mixed case of cork-finished wines from 100% Cork partner wineries, a pair of SOLE x United by Blue Jasper Chukka Shoes made using ReCork recycled cork, pairs of SOLE Performance Footbeds made using ReCork recycled cork, a ticket package to attend the 2022 San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, and discounts on wines from 100% Cork partner wineries at wine.com/choosecork.
“This partnership with the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival was successful in properly recycling used wine corks and educating attendees and exhibitors on the environmental impact corks have if not properly recycled,” said João Rui Ferreira, president of APCOR. “We look forward to continuing this partnership annually to build our program through cork sustainability and education to decrease the CO2 production in cork oak forests.”
Working with ReCork, APCOR educates wine lovers around the country about the full life cycle of cork closures once they are pulled from a bottle, and highlights the small, but highly impactful ways that wine drinkers can become climate activists through the simple act of properly recycling cork. APCOR continues to spread awareness through initiatives such as the successful partnership with the 17th Annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival.
To learn more about APCOR’s cork sustainability initiatives and the environmental impact of cork, visit www.apcor.pt.
About APCOR
Associação Portuguesa da Cortiça (APCOR) exists to represent and promote the Portuguese cork industry and its products. APCOR is the employers’ association of national scope, created in 1956 and is based in Santa Maria de Lamas, at the heart of the cork industry around 30 kilometers from Porto, Portugal’s second largest city. Membership of the association is open to all companies operating in the fields of production, marketing or export of cork products. The organization advocates on behalf of the Portuguese cork industry worldwide and is the driving force of an industry based on tradition, innovation and sustainability.
About ReCORK
ReCORK™ creates high-performance, carbon-negative composite materials and components using natural recycled cork. ReCORK™ was launched as a natural wine cork recycling program in 2008 by Canadian footwear company SOLE™. It has since become the largest program of its kind in North America, with an R&D team dedicated to innovation around the cork recycling process. ReCORK’s proprietary material, ReCORK™ Recycled Cork, redefines what’s possible using cork, offering a natural, sustainable, versatile alternative to foams and plastics derived from fossil fuels. ReCORK’s mission is to make petroleum-based foams and plastics obsolete. Learn more at recork.com.
About San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival®
Travel to San Diego and Arrive at Awesome. The annual San Diego Bay Wine + Food
Festival is an international showcase of the world’s premier wine and spirits producers,
chefs and culinary personalities, and gourmet foods. The festival raises funds for culinary, oenology or hospitality scholarships or grants and has awarded over $450,000 to individuals or nonprofits through previous events. For more information visit www.sandiegowineclassic.com. Produced by World of Wine Events and Fast ForwardEvents & PR.
