For The Love Of Port

Makes sense. Every bit of cork that is recycled means it isn't being taken from the stream of virgin cork essential to preserving wine.

There are plenty of uses for cork that can take shredded, recycled cork. Flooring, for instance.

But we aren't talking about the cork out of a 1960 Port here. I can't imagine you would get much useful material out of some of the crumbling corks I've pulled out of older bottles. Our cork floors have a nice layer on top, but there are aggregate layers below that could be made with scraps and recycled material. I wouldn't want there to be any wine in there, however.

There is a widespread program in Portugal with collection spots in supermarkets and shopping malls. The collection spot is called a "Rolhão" ("rolha" = cork). The program is run by Amorim and Quercus (an environmental organization).