starfish74

Role: Consultant

Greetings all -

I am also working with a team of MBA students. However, we are looking to develop an end of life solution for capturing and recycling natural cork and synthetic cork (Nomacorc #4 LDPE). What we're hoping to implement is a return program through various wineries, tasting rooms, retail outlets, wine bars, etc. that would be able to supply a manufacturer a large quantity of the post-consumer material on an ongoing basis so that it could be repurposed / recycled and stay out of the waste stream.

Through our research, we found the relationship Nomacorc established with Terracycle, and I have some feelers out there to see if they would be interested in partnering up for such an initiative. However, we're open to more ideas and available options if there are any. We'd also be open to any suggestions for the recycling / repurposing of natural cork as well. We have identified currently Yemm & Hart, ReCork America, Cork Reharvest as potential targets for partnerships, but were wondering if there were any others we weren't considering?

Does anyone have suggestions for facilities that can recycle a large amount of these material types? We are looking to launch a regional pilot program and then to scale the program up to other communities in the U.S.

Any thoughts? Also, many thanks in advance!

Best,

Tom