Cork is one of the most eco-friendly, sustainable and cruelty free materials on our planet. Cork trees are never cut down, they live for over 200 years, and harvesting the cork doesn’t harm the trees, its actually good for them and the environment. With safe harvesting up to 20 times during their life cycle, making cork a truly inexhaustible resource.

Stripping a cork oak of its bark assists its ability to absorb carbon dioxide. There are seven million acres of cork forest around the Mediterranean offsetting 20 million tons of CO2 each year, and a harvested tree absorbs 3-5 times more. Portugal’s cork forests, the world’s leading supplier of cork, has the highest levels of plant biodiversity found anywhere in the world, while also providing a habitat for endangered animal species.

“Cork extraction is one of the most environmentally-friendly harvesting processes in the world – not a single tree is cut down to get the cork. This tradition can survive, as long as demand for cork stays high, if not, the cork forests will disappear – and with them, a unique cultural and natural heritage” – Pedro Regato, WWF Mediterranean Head of Forest unit.                         

(Photo: Nicola [CC BY 2.0]/Flickr) (Photo: Giardino dei semplici, quercus suber by Sailko [CC BY-SA 3.0]) (Photo: Quercus suber by Martin Olsson [CC BY-SA 3.0])