Waitrose is to introduce a cork recycling scheme in seven of its stores, becoming the first major UK supermarket to do so.

Customers will be able to deposit their used natural corks via collection points at branches in Salisbury, Saltash, Lymington, Bath, Godalming, Truro and Maidenhead. These will then be recycled by cork processing group Amorim.

“Waitrose customers get through a corking nearly 25 million natural corks a year,” says Barry Dick MW, Waitrose & Partners’ beer wine and spirits global bulk wine sourcing manager. “Currently this valuable material does not have its own waste stream which means it ends up in landfill. Cork is a durable material and has the potential to be repurposed into a variety of products after it has been used as a wine cork.

“Cork is a durable material and has the potential to be repurposed into a variety of products after it has been used as a wine cork”

“This trial is a fantastic way for us to reduce waste and play a part in improving our sustainability as a category. Once we’ve gauged our customers’ appetite to return their natural corks, we’re hoping to roll the trial out to further stores from next year.”

Waitrose says that through the trial it will determine how best to introduce the scheme into more stores and explore innovative applications of recycled cork in future propositions.

“I’m excited to kick off this trial and learn about how we can help reduce unnecessary waste of such a great material,” adds Marija Rompani, director of ethics and sustainability at John Lewis Partnership. “We’re always looking for ways to reduce waste and keep materials in circulation as a crucial element of our ethics and sustainability commitments, and this trial will add another layer to the work we have across the partnership.”