Cork, the battle of companies to recycle corks

"There are few materials more sustainable than cork at an industrial level: this wood comes from the cork forests of the Mediterranean, which contribute to storing carbon dioxide - 73 tonnes of CO2 for every tonne of cork - and the processed products are not treated, except with a silicone coating, in the case of corks, so that they can be inserted into bottles. It is a spontaneous plant, which every ten years in Italy can be decorticated and then regenerated, so it does not imply tree felling or exploitation of the resource, but rather it is a system that allows the plant to regenerate itself, even up to 250 years'.

Alessandro Canepari is the owner of Mureddu Sugheri, which has been producing bottle stoppers in this material since 1938, and is also head of the Cork Group within Assoimballaggi, which in turn is associated with FederlegnoArredo, representing a niche sector (national production is worth 270 million euros, generated by just over 200 companies and a thousand workers), but fundamental for the wine industry and distinctive of our country, which alone produces and transforms about 10% of the cork marketed globally, behind Spain and Portugal, which hold 70% of production, and ahead of the Maghreb and France.

A sector that could have much greater potential if only some of the bureaucratic knots hindering its development were to be loosened, starting with the issue of recycling. Cork, explains Canepari, is, or rather would be, a perfect example of a recyclable material, being completely natural and having many possibilities for transformation once regenerated, for example in the building industry (as acoustic and thermal insulation), design and footwear.

Areas in which it is already used - albeit marginally compared to cork stopper production - but which could develop significantly if system-wide (Italian and even more so European) regulations were enacted to authorise and guarantee its recycling, something that does not happen today for 'merely bureaucratic' reasons, adds the entrepreneur. As well as economic, given that the organisation of the collection and sorting of used caps (to date only envisaged and regulated in a few Italian municipalities) still entails high costs.

"If, however, we succeeded in triggering a virtuous mechanism of production, use, recycling, regeneration and reuse, there would be significant economic spin-offs, at system level, that would amortise the costs,' Canepari observes. 'Every year, around 18 billion bottle caps are produced worldwide, more than 12 billion of which are cork: just think how many things could be done and how many jobs could be generated if we managed to recycle those 12 billion corks.