Is cork an eco-friendly material?
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When we encounter cork material, it is most often in the form of a cork for a bottle of wine or in the form of an office bulletin board, but otherwise the material is extremely valuable. In fact, cork is used in many ingenious ways that you may not have thought of before.
What exactly is a cork?
Cork - natural material
Cork is harvested from a specific layer of tree bark, usually oak. This layer, called the "fell" layer, consists of a fully waterproof material that has unique properties: it is impermeable, buoyant, flexible and flame retardant.
Cork oak is grown mainly in the Iberian Peninsula, as Portugal has about 34% of the world's cork forests and Spain about 27%.
Cork is considered a renewable or sustainable material because no trees are cut down to harvest the cork. Instead, the trees are grown until they are about 25 years old (when their trunks are wide enough, i.e. about 24 inches), and then every nine years the cork is removed from the tree trunks.
Where can cork be used?
But what can a cork be used for besides wine corks? Due to its versatile properties, it is now gaining popularity in the design world and is starting to be used in creative ways, from furniture, to travel accessories and flooring, to gold-plated wall coverings.
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Because cork is a durable material and can be produced as flat sheets of fabric, it has evolved into a range of accessories and household items, from badges to luggage tags. sound insulation as it is often used on walls, ceilings and floors to create a quieter space.
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And of course cork is an excellent cork, even for jars. Due to their waterproof properties, cork stoppers work well on both dry and wet products, and thanks to the color palette and subtle patterns, they go particularly well with wood.
What is its ecological significance?
Cork is sustainable
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Cork is a natural product, 100% biodegradable and recyclable, and has historically been the product of choice for sealing bottles, especially wine. In recent years, cork stoppers have been competing with alternative stoppers that have proven to be less suitable from an ecological point of view. Recent studies confirm the ecological advantages of cork plugs compared to plastic or aluminum, estimating that their life cycle results in 10 to 25 times less CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The life cycle of corks has an important environmental, social and economic function, and given the alternatives, corks are an environmentally responsible consumption habit.
Cork: a great wall covering
In addition to giving a more natural look to the room, it gives a feeling of warmth to any room. Used in thin sheets, it can decorate entire walls, create geometric patterns, and even be covered with fabric to create small tapestry pictures. Large, sticky pieces can be found at home improvement stores. At the same time, it can also cover large parts of the wall and can help you organize reminders, hang photos and other important announcements. Just use a few pieces of lining until you fill the entire area.
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Cork on the floor
Cork is also used to cover floors, providing greater thermal comfort and good sound insulation. It even has the advantage that it can be used over other coatings, such as ceramics, generating lower costs at the end of the renovation.
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The cork above the desk is one of the best ideas. It looks good in the place where you study and use the internet, which means it can inspire you to do a thousand different things at any given time! You can also put it on a dresser and, look how cool, you can take a cloth and cover the stopper if you don't want it to be visible underneath. Yes! It will be a very pure white background. Want another suggestion? You can also divide the cork into equal parts to differentiate the things you put there into categories, or mix everything together to create a very colorful and contrasting effect.