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Wine Cork Recycling
Yemm & Hart Ltd
425 North Chamber Dr
Fredericktown  MO  63645

Please don't send plastic wine stoppers and other non-cork materials.

Yemm & Hart has determined that the most sustaining type of product is a tile. We will produce tiles that resemble the image at the left in 36" squares, 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" thicknesses. They will be sanded on one side and ready to be adhered to a floor, wall or other substrate. When sales have been made of the tiles, then the wine cork contribution portion of this experiment will evolve into wine cork redemption. This is where Yemm & Hart will set a price and pay for wine corks sent to them based upon  established rules. Initial contributors of cork stoppers will receive preferential pricing on Wine Cork Tiles.

A typical wine cork weighs approximately 0.12 ozs and champagne corks weigh approximately 0.32 ozs. We see many more wine corks and will use that in our estimates. One ton (2000 Lbs) takes about 266,667 corks. All corks received are unpacked and sorted into pure cork and non-cork material. The non-cork material is donated to an area teacher's recycling center, so kids get a chance to be creative with it. This is an expensive manual process that adds value to the collected corks  The pure cork is then weighed and recorded by the sender's name.    

Collection Aid - A brochure or flyer for the convenience of cork collectors - download, print and distribute as needed -

When wine corks can be paid for, Yemm & Hart believes that this sustainable and increasingly rare material, will eventually cease to be discarded without regard. If you have questions, please contact us through this web site at or by any of the above contact methods.

The Latest - Yemm & Hart Wine Cork Recycling is now entering what may be the final stage in its experiment to create a self-sustaining business that sources post-consumer wine cork stoppers and extends their life as tiles that can be used for floors, walls and other products. Begun in January 2004, four years later at the close of 2007, one and a half tons of pure wine cork stoppers have been collected from 1,146 contributions. Some contributors have sent in corks numerous times and all of them have paid their own shipping costs to move their corks to Yemm & Hart as participants in the experiment.

Each contributor has been promised a set of the samples of the finished product and preparations are now being made to send out these samples. A post card will be sent to each recorded address, to verify if the address is still good and to determine if the addressee indeed wants a set of samples. Yemm & Hart is requiring each interested party to contact and express such interest before samples are sent out. The samples are beautiful and waste of them is to be avoided.

Samples of Wine Cork Tiles will also be sent out to the normal recipients of other Yemm & Hart material samples as well as to specific requests for Wine Cork Tile Samples. The current feed stock inventory (all from contributions) can make approximately 6,750 square feet of 1/4" thick tiles. As this stock of contributed cork is depleted, the need for more wine cork stoppers will increase. To meet this demand, a program to pay for the corks has been developed.

This phase of the experiment must be carefully managed because an oversupply or undersupply could damage the program. It is expected that this supply side of the experiment will further evolve as some groups actively collect large amounts of cork and others accumulate them on a more casual basis. The rate at which Yemm & Hart purchases cork will be determined by the rate of sales of the finished product.

Once payments for corks start going out, contributions will still be gratefully accepted. Eventually, there will be links from this page to a Materials/Wine Cork Tiles section on this web site. Here, architectural specifiers, dealers and end users will be able to learn about the material history, color & pattern, properties, installation, maintenance and pricing. Additionally, a new section will be added to the Yemm & Hart paper information binder, which by the way, does not contain as much information as can be found on this website.

The Wine & Cork Connection
When people drink wine,
They are celebrating life,
They are celebrating their life or
The life of family and friends,
They are celebrating the life
Of the vine and the grape,
The skilled hands of the vintner.
When the wine is all gone
There often remains at the table,
A small reminder of life.
It’s the wine cork stopper.
The centuries old solution
To preserve the special taste
Of wine stored in stone.

Why, that little cork is bark.
Bark from a tree, a mighty tree.
A tree that lives
In just a few places,
On our planet Earth.
A tree that is endangered.
If the use of wine corks declines,
The magnificent cork oak
Is threatened with being cut down.
To make more living space for the
Coastal loving people.
Once a cork tree is gone,
It is rarely replanted
Because it takes generations to grow
From seedling to cork bark.

When people save their corks,
They are saving some of this life.
They want it to continue.
It surely must have more life,
People want to believe.
When the wine corks are transformed
Into something all may use and see.
Awareness is renewed
About the mighty cork tree.
And drinking that wine
With a real cork stopper
Becomes more of a cause
For even more celebration.
Drinking wine is a celebration of life.

"I want these corks to be put to good use.  They are a natural resource that should not just be dumped into a land fill. - Kudos to you and your firm for being innovative with a common "throw-away" - Becky 3/7/07

"We are happy to find a use for the corks that represent years enjoying wine" - Kevin and Linda, Terre Haute IN 11/19/06

"Just a note of interest - My father worked for a major city restaurant for 30 years collecting wine corks. He wanted to make a model of a giraffe or a small boat but never got around to it. We ended up donating the truckload to the Du Page Children's Museum. We are delighted to see you are working with this valuable resource and would like to spread the word. Many Thanks" - Naperville, Illinois

"My daughter's school, a green school, made the floor out of cork in an area to be used for reading on the floor." - Mettawa, Illinois

"I have a sister-in-law who wires the wine corks together and creates hotpads. They work great". - Lake Sherwood, Missouri

http://www.jelinek.com/
http://www.corkfacts.com/nchoice.htm
http://greenyes.grrn.org/2004/05/msg00078.html     c1
http://www.guidesqld.org/about/corks.htm    
http://www.harpers-wine.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=802   
http://www.guidesaus.org.au/Visitors/corks.htm   
http://www.corkmasters.com/index.php?article=46&layout=4&visual=1 
http://www.drvino.com/   

The scale used in measuring contributed cork and non-cork w/0.001 Lbs accuracy.

Sorted pure wine corks with all contamination removed.

Approximately 600 Lbs of pure wine corks ready for shipping.

May 14, 2007 1st Test Block - Wine Corks surrounded by granulated cork.

May 16, 2007 2nd Test Block - Wine Corks surrounded by granulated cork.

May 17, 2007 3rd Test Block - Wine Corks surrounded by granulated cork.

May 17, 2007 4th Test Block - Wine Corks surrounded by granulated cork and black rubber.