Whole Foods Expands Cork Recycling

AUSTIN, Texas — Whole Foods Market has teamed with Cork ReHarvest to expand a wine cork recycling effort, initially launched in its Pacific Northwest Region, to all of its 292 stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., it announced Tuesday.

Corks will be collected in designated drop boxes before making their journey to recycling centers on trucks already en route to each destination.

West of the Rockies, corks will be turned into recyclable wine shippers containing 10% cork by Western Pulp. In the Midwest, corks will be sent to Yemm & Hart, which produces cork floor tiles. And on the East Coast and in the U.K., Jelinek Cork Group will make them into post-consumer products.

“We often forget that cork is a renewable, recyclable material that does not belong in our landfills,” said Erez Klein, wine and beer buyer for Whole Foods' Pacific Northwest Region, in a statement. “Whole Foods Market is excited to make cork recycling more accessible to our shoppers, and Cork ReHarvest allows us to help sustain cork forests, a critically important resource for our planet, and to do so with near effortless local community action.”

In related news, Target Corp. added recycling bins for things like plastic bags, beverage cans and bottles, mobile phones and MP3 players to all of its stores Tuesday, according to reports.

Recycled materials will be sent to the retailer's distribution centers on trucks already headed there from stores. It will sell some of the materials, like plastic bags, to companies that will turn them into other products.

Read More of Today's Headlines