The cork debate: some thoughts from Luc Charlier

White Chinon from Baudry-Dutour closed with screwcap

'Here are my views on the "environmental" side of the cork issue. I did not try to make a very elegant text (not to be reproduced as such), but the ideas are there.

The « environmental issue ».

First of all, it is very difficult to find adequate data. And, when it is available, it is so biassed by the sponsor of the study that you can question its validity. So, I shall stick to the ideas, not their figures.

“Against” the aluminum: it takes electricity to extract the metal from bauxite. That is true.

Objection: once aluminum is available, it is very easy to recycle. You just don’t recycle cork.

“Pro” oak bark: it keeps local manpower at work and maintains the forest.

Objection: the number of manual workers actually involved in the collection of the bark (once every 8-12 years or so on any individual tree), and the number involved in “keeping the forest tidy” is very small indeed.

Moreover, most places (see Alentejo) where the cork-oak is found are no forests any more. You find the trees in clusters amongst other agricultural activities (wheat for instance).

The transportation issue

The volume (in bulk) for corks and screw-caps is similar, from the manufacturer to the end-user. But cork is heavier (marginally so, I admit).

Aluminum (raw material), when journeying between the production site and the manufacturer, takes very little room indeed. Cork needs a lot of volume, even unprocessed. And the places in the world where it is harvested are scarce and very concentrated (Portugal amongst others).

The air pollution issue

Manual workers invade the places of harvest with diesel vehicles and use combustion engine driven tools in a plenty (mostly two-stroke). By and large, they need to cover a lot of kilometers (from one collection site to the other)

The bark treatment issue

Suffices it to read the producers’ own site and take a look at the steps needed in the manufacturing of final corks: it is water and chemistry (chlorine) from one end to the other.

As a summary: yes, extracting aluminum from its ore demands electricity but recycling decreases this disadvantage. No, cork-oak forest for the purpose of collecting the bark is NOT an activity with sustainable advantages.'

See my recent post on screwcaps here.