The Budget Ecoist

Now this is the kind of recycling anyone can get behind: Step 1 is "Drink 180 bottles of wine (adults only)."

That's right, it's time to start collecting those wine bottle corks when you recycle the wine bottles, and then put them to good use. If you're feeling ambitious, you're going to make a decorative yet functional cork board. The rest of the directions are here.

For those who prefer emptying wine bottles to getting crafty, how about just mailing those corks off? You do have to pay the postage, but as of March, champagne and wine corks are recyclable in the U.S. Send them via USPS or UPS to:

Wine Cork Recycling
Yemm & Hart Ltd
610 South Chamber Dr
Fredericktown MO 63645

The program has already collected one and a half tons of pure cork stoppers. From the contributions recieved, corks are then divided by Yemm & Hart. The pure cork ones will be converted to tile by Yemm & Hart to be used for flooring or walls, and the others are donated for local school kids to use in crafting. The whole program is still something of an experiment at this point. Once the tiles begin making a profit, the cork donations will become cork redemption. Until that happens, cork donors will get "preferential pricing" on the tiles. Sweet.

As if you needed any more reasons to drink wine. Now you're helping build sustainable homes, you're helping school arts programs, you're even, according to the British recycling forum responsible for the cork board directions above, preventing the destruction of the habitat of the Iberian Lynx (they live in cork forests). Cheers!