If you enjoy the occasional glass of wine then even at a slow pace the corks can add up over time. And, it seems a shame to throw away such a useful material. But, there are lots of ways to re-use wine corks around the house. A lot of people use them for art projects and they useful that way, but they can also be super helpful for many other purposes as well.
Fruit Protector
Put a few (natural) corks in your fruit bowl to absorb moisture so that fruit flies won’t be attracted to the fruit. Synthetic ones won’t work the same way.
Garden Mulch
Ground or chopped up cork can be used as mulch in your garden. Note: only natural cork can be used for this project, not synthetic corks.
Stamp Collecting
Carve the ends of corks to make fun and economical stamps for crafts. They can also be used just plain for a circle stamp.
Cork Bumpers
Slice used corks into disks. These disks can be attached to cabinet doors, the bottom of ceramics or other decorative objects, or even on the legs of furniture to protect the floors, cabinets, and other surfaces of your home much like the pre-made cork bumpers you can buy at the hardware store.
Correctly Labeled
Insert a stake in one end of a cork to create a label for herbs and plants in the garden. Use a permanent marker to write the name of the plant on the cork so it withstands the weather and you have a very simple and attractive plant identifier.
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Put a Pin In It
Wine corks can be used a makeshift pin cushions when needed. This also works for loose bulletin board tacks as well.
Place Cards
To turn a wine cork into a place card for the table simply cut a slit long ways into the cork for a piece of paper to be placed into. You can prevent the cork from rolling around by cutting off a small section of the opposite length so that it lies flat on the table, but still looks round when seen from above.
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Useful and Light Keychain
Make a cork keychain by screwing a small eye hook into the cork. Put a dab of glue on the end of the eye screw first for extra security. Since cork floats, this type of keychain should prevent you from losing your keys in water.
