According to PR Newswire, the 100% Cork Campaign got an outstanding turnout on Earth Day in New York City, as hundreds of visitors to Time Square stopped by the campaign’s booth to learn about natural cork’s environmental, social, and economic benefits and to sign the pledge to use only wine closed with natural cork.
More than 200 visitors signed the 100% Cork Pledge, which can be found online at www.100PercentCork.org. Pledge names will be added to petitions to send to major wine retailers and wineries urging them to increase their use of cork stoppers. The reasoning behind the campaign stems from three major reasons:
1) Metal screw caps and plastic stoppers produce 10-24 times more greenhouse gases and consume as much as five times more non-renewable energy than real cork over their life-cycles, according to a peer-reviewed study by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
2) Natural cork is recyclable, biodegradable and creates a powerful incentive for sustainable stewardship of cork oak forests while providing one of the world’s richest ecosystems.
3) In addition to its environmental benefits, natural cork is already ideally suited for the preservation and presentation of wine. Its unique physical properties create a material that is compressible, resilient and impervious, allowing wine to age properly while providing the distinctive “pop” when removed from the bottle. These properties have not been duplicated by any man-made alternatives.
Visitors to the campaign booth received samples of cork bark and promotional materials, including a detailed guide to cork that featured its sustainable attributes. Visitors were from all over the U.S., but they were all interested in learning more about cork and the campaign.
