First Zero Carbon Footprint Closure

Image provided by Nomacorc.

What do you do with all those wine bottle closures? We don’t throw them in the trash because they are not biodegradable. So they fill up a box, then another box until we make something out of them. I’ve made wine bottle trivets, push pin boards and even cut the corks on a band saw to make quarter round for molding. Some people live near a winery or wine shop that will collect the corks for recycling. I never seem to just throw them away.

Now the manufacturer Nomacorc has developed a closure that is made using renewable plant-based materials. This is the first zero carbon footprint closure on the market and will be presented at the Intervitis Interfructa trade show April 24 – 27, 2013 in Stuttgart, Germany. The closures will become available for the 2014 bottling. These closures will be 100 percent recyclable.

What wineries may be interested in these closures? It looks like Nomacorc is aiming the closures to wineries that are sustainable, organic or biodynamic. Many of those wineries are trying to reduce their carbon footprint and using these closures will afford another opportunity to do that.  According to a press release by the manufacturer, “As with other Select Series products, Select Bio will minimize the environmental impact of wines by preventing spoilage and waste from wine faults such as oxidation and reduction. By consistently delivering the right amount of oxygen into the bottle using a carbon neutral closure, sustainability-minded wineries will now be able to deliver their wines just as they intend.”

Expect to see more information and marketing for these closures in the future. Will wineries show an interest in extending their sustainability practices? Will consumers know that difference and pitch these closures into the trash? Perhaps I’ll need one more box and start collecting them for a future project.

Cheers,
Terry