Recycling

Natural Corks

We accept natural corks either delivered or shipped by mail. Although natural corks cannot be reused in wine bottles because they are porous and cannot be sanitized, we ship the used corks to an American company that recycles them into post-consumer products. This includes cork floor tiles, cork board, etc. Any plastic corks that we receive will be donated to be used in crafts. 

Using real cork is not only the traditional way to cork wine, but it is also the greenest way as well. It’s sourced from the bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus Suber.) Instead of dying from the removal of its cork bark, the tree regenerates new cork for harvesting in the future. Depending on the location of the tree, a cork oak can be harvested in a cycle of 9 to 12 years and produce enough natural cork to bottle an average of over 4,000 wines. The harvesting of natural cork is done through a traditional collection method that enables the trees to flourish without the intervention of herbicides, fertilizers, or irrigation. The cork manufacturing process also utilizes every bit of scrap bark for use as cork particles or fuel. Economically, cork harvesting supports a large agrarian population that has few other viable prospects.

There is one cork oak in Portugal named “The Whistler Tree” that has had its cork bark harvested for over 212 years. Its last harvest in 2000 produced enough natural cork for 100,000 bottles of wine bringing its lifetime total to over 1,000,000 corks!

Wine Bottle Sealing Wax

All of our bottles are dipped and sealed in hot melted bottle sealing wax because it is the best air tight bottle sealer for natural corks. 

If you have purchased our wine bottles before and have leftover wax from the seal, we will be able to re-melt and reuse the wax again for future bottles.

Wine Bottles

We take 750 ml. wine bottles and 12 oz (355 ml.) beer bottles in all shapes and colors. Please be sure to rinse out your empty wine and beer bottles with clean water before dropping them off to us. This will help remove any leftover wine or beer residue that could attract bugs.

We do not, however, take other Florida winery wine bottles. We believe their bottles should be returned back to them.

Did you know that more than 300 million cases of wine are sold in the United States each year? An estimated 70% of these wine bottles end up in our local landfills (per the EPA) and for every ton of glass that we have to replace, 384 lb. of mining waste is created. For every ton of glass that we have to replace, we have to use 1,330 lb. of sand, 433 lb. of soda ash, 433 lb. of limestone, 30 lb. of air pollution and 151 lb. of feldspar.

Glass wine and beer bottles never wear out and they can be recycled and reused forever. By only using recycled wine and beer bottles, we have reduced our carbon footprint by a whopping 60%! 

12 Pack Soft Drink Cartons

We take your empty 12 pack canned soft drink cardboard cartons and will be able to use them as recycled wine bottle carriers. Once they are empty, please open both ends and collapse them. 

Because of their highly glossed surfaces, they are unfortunately not recycled for the most part and if we can reuse them for practical purposes, we can help keep these boxes out of our landfills.