who knew there were so many awesome ways to recycle your old wine corks?! i have complied a list of my three favorite ways to re-use these seemingly boring objects… this is  my collection of wine corks so far, not sure what i plan on doing with them yet!

1. Green Is Universal turns wine corks into awesome Monogram Letters.  i personally love this one because i am obsessed with typography and letters.  the way to do it is, cut out a cardboard letter of your choice, figure out how many corks you will need in total, and begin to arrange them so they fit perfectly on the cardboard. you may have to cut some corks in half to make it work. next, you can use a hot glue gun to stick them down in place, attach hangers on the back and you’re done!

2.  these wine corks have been transformed into a doormat by Sarah Racha on Etsy. it’s made up of 284 corks, each with two holes drilled in to it so that she could tightly weave steel wire through the mat, making it durable and strong.  The holes in each cork have metal grommets inserted, so that the wire does not cut through the cork.

via SarahRacha's Etsy site

3. CasaSugar explains how to use cork on the wall as a corkboard – what you need:

• Wine corks
• Skill (or craft) saw
• X-acto knife
• Frame
• Hot glue gun with glue sticks
• Cork sheet
• Foam board

if none of these ways of recycling your old wine corks is appealing to you, there is still one thing you can do…. Cork Forest – an alliance dedicated to protecting the Mediterranean cork forests, its inhabitants and biodiversity – launched a program called Cork ReHarvest.  their goal is  “to collect and recycle some of the billions natural corks that are produced each year. equally important is our work to educate the public about the vital importance of preserving and protecting the Mediterranean cork forests. cork collection boxes are placed in grocery stores, wine and bottle shops, and winery tasting rooms.”

get corky!

– smiley