How is cork harvested?

The cycle

• A cork oak is first stripped at around 25 years of age.
• It is stripped again roughly every nine years after that, by hand, with an axe, by workers trained to cut without wounding the trunk.
• The tree keeps producing for 150 years and more, so a single oak is harvested around fifteen times in its life.
• The bark regrows between harvests, and the tree absorbs carbon while it does so.

Why this is unusual

Almost every other natural material used at this scale involves ending the life of the thing it comes from. Cork does not. The harvest is closer to shearing than to felling, and a stripped oak carries on for another century.

The forests themselves, called montado in Portugal, are working landscapes rather than plantations, and they are among the more biodiverse managed ecosystems in Europe. Portugal alone holds around 730,000 hectares of them.

Where cork comes from

Portugal produces roughly half the world's cork and processes around 70% of it. That concentration is why almost all cork, whoever sells it, traces back to the same part of the world.

After stripping, the planks are stacked and cured in the open air before they are processed. What happens next depends on which form is being made, and the three forms are genuinely different products.

What we do with it

Green Haven manufactures in India from cork sourced from an FSC-certified supplier, and ships worldwide. Made in India.

How is cork harvested?

The bark is stripped by hand from a living cork oak, roughly every nine years, using an axe and without felling the tree. A tree gives its first usable harvest at about 25 years old and continues producing for more than 150 years.

Are trees cut down to make cork?

No. Cork is the bark of the cork oak and is stripped from the living tree, which regrows it and is harvested again about nine years later. The tree is never felled to produce cork.

How often can a cork tree be harvested?

About every nine years, starting when the tree is around 25 years old. Because the tree keeps producing for over 150 years, a single cork oak is typically harvested around fifteen times.

Where does most cork come from?

Portugal, which produces roughly half the world's cork and processes around 70% of it. Portugal holds about 730,000 hectares of cork oak forest, known as montado.