Put a cork in it – real cork

Los Angeles – A campaign to raise awareness about the benefits of choosing wine with real cork stoppers is going all the way to the Grammy Awards – and your feet.

The 53rd Grammys will be serving wine sealed with natural cork and recycling all of the closures.

The closures will then be sent to Sole, a company based in North Vancouver in B.C., which uses the recycled cork to manufacture shoes and sandals. The company is known for its line of supportive, do-it-yourself heat moldable custom footbeds and footwear.

The U.S.-based organization, 100% Cork, is behind the campaign to raise awareness among consumers about the benefits of using real cork. And it’s the Portuguese Cork Association and the Cork Quality Council who fund it.

An organization called ReCork is also involved. It’s a natural cork-recycling program that collects the cork by providing recycling bins and then sends the cork to Sole.

ReCork and Sole partnered in 2009 to make products with natural, sustainable cork and reduce the amount of petroleum products that would normally be used. The two have sponsored the planting of nearly 4,500 cork oak trees.

On its website Sole explains that natural cork is 100 per cent natural, biodegradable and renewable. 100% Cork also explains that natural cork preserves old-growth cork oak forests and a centuries-long way of life through sustainable harvesting of the bark.

Sole makes footwear with recycled natural cork.

Harvesting cork is an environmentally friendly process – it involves stripping the tree of its bark – during which not a single tree is cut down and the bark renews itself.