Spain is the second world producer of cork, after Portugal, and has the fourth world part of Alcornocales. Recycling the cork would be a great way to support this sector, which is in danger due to the replacement of synthetic materials and the environmental threats suffered by the alcornocals (the tree from which the cork is obtained). In addition, its recycling would also offer environmental advantages.
But,In which container the cork is thrown for correct treatment? In this ecology article, we tell you.
What container is the natural cork thrown?
As they assure from Ecoembes (the system that manages the recycling of packaging in Spain), the consumer must deposit the products made with Natural cork in it Organic containerthe brown container, so as not to hinder the recycling of the containers, but ensure that they receive very few corks. Next, the recovery companies are in charge of their management and of their sending to controlled landfills or some energy valuation system.
The corks that have already been used is not possible to reuse themespecially if they have contained liquids or have been in contact with food or other organic or inorganic materials that leave waste, since they are deteriorated or with products products and the industries cannot readmit them. Although their recycling would be possible, that is, take advantage of the material after treating them properly. However, a recovery system such as glass or containers is missing and, although there is some experience in this regard, there is currently no good recycling structure of the cork and doing it, for the moment, it would be expensive and could contaminate more.
Recycle the unused cork has Advantages for the medium and economic. It is a saving of resources, transformation or transport. In addition, when the natural cork even used is being able to recycle, apart from the aforementioned advantages, green employment positions in this sector would also be generated.
While the used natural cork cannot be recycled well, we give you several ideas to reuse cork plugs, one of the most used products made with this material.
The white cork, polyespan or porexpan
He White cork or expanded polystyrene (EPS)also called Polyespán or Porexpánit is a foamy plastic material, which derives from polystyrene and is used to manufacture containers and packaging or as thermal and acoustic insulator in construction.
Among its characteristics are its lightness, hygiene, humidity resistance, salts, acids or fats and their ability to absorb impacts, which makes it an ideal material to condition fragile products. In addition, since it is not a nutritional substrate for microorganisms, it does not rude, nor gain or suffer decomposition. This makes it an ideal material to pack fresh products, so we can easily find them in the form of a tray in vegetables, fruits, butcher shop, fish market or ice cream shop.
In the supermarkets we find it easily in the form of a tray in the fishing, butcher shop, fruits, vegetables and ice cream.
How the white cork is recycled
The white or polyespan cork is a totally recyclable and 100% reusable material. With it you can form blocks of the same material and manufacture raw materials to use them in other products. After use, this must be deposited in the yellow container which is destined for plastic containers.
Three main methods are known for White cork recycling:
- The main recycling method that has been used for decades, consists of mechanically tear the material and then mix it with new material to form blocks of EPS that contain up to 50% recycled material.
- Another technology currently applied for recycling is mechanical densification, which consists of applying thermal and mechanical energy to foamy to transform them into more compact particles that can be managed more easily.
- New methods are also being studied to dissolve foams in different solvents and thus handle them more easily.
The cork sector in Spain
As we said, Spain is one of the MAIN WORLD PROPERTORS OF CORCHO And the main alcornocales are located along the Mediterranean coast, Extremadura and Andalusia. The cork sector It is a particular industry that is favorable even for biodiversity, because the disappearance of The cornacals It would mean serious damage to the environment. For example, the biodiversity of hundreds of animals and plants would resent, the natural environment would be more exposed to erosion and desertification, absorption capacity of CO2 would be lost, rural employment would lower or the beautiful Mediterranean landscape would be harmed.
According to those responsible, this sector gives work to some 3,000 people and that in addition to producing plugs (85% of business volume), different industries use the cork for their insulating properties, its float and its lightness.
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