Northern California man Roger Archey is helping you feel even better about sipping your vino- Archey has started a wine cork recycling program. If your house is anything like mine, you have a bowl on top of the refrigerator full of corks, to someday be put to a yet to be determined but crafty purpose. How about more corks?

In the aggregate, corks take up space in landfills, and like any recyclable, shouldn’t be in there. Archey has coordinated drop off points for corks in the California Bay Area, making arrangements for long term cork return deals with local restaurants, wineries and schools. He has amassed some volunteers, and his movement is gaining popularity. Now Archey’s issue is what to do with all the corks he has collected.

Corks are mostly produced in Portugal, and due to its slow growth, isn’t a very sustainable material. Cork trees take 25 years to mature to be harvested, and can only be harvested every 5-10 years after that. But it is very versatile. Besides corks, cork is used in everything from shoes (the Birkenstock factory is minutes away from Archey’s home in Larkspur, , ,) to dart and bulletin boards, furniture, insulation, craft materials, buoys, instruments, fishing rods, tiles flooring, sports equipment and even to create a composite concrete.

ReCork was started by Amorim & Irmãos, primary cork producers in Portugal, and has expanded to the US. Screw caps and plastic stoppers can still be recycled the conventional way- toss 'em in the blue bin.

Read more at the SF Chronicle.