Brooklyn Housing Complex Reveals Pathways and Playgrounds Made From 450,000 Recycled Corks
Wine bottle corks are getting a second lease on life in New York City. Earlier this month, a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) project in Brooklyn cut the ribbon on newly paved pathways and playground surfaces made of upcycled corks. The first-of-its-kind installation is part of the nonprofit Public Housing Community Fund’s (PHCF) $3.2 million initiative to renovate the open spaces at four of NYCHA’s public housing complexes.
PHCF partnered with Cork Collective — launched by architecture firm Rockwell Group in partnership with cork manufacturer Amorim in 2024 to craft structures like flooring and installation out of upcycled stoppers — and a host of other nonprofit organizations to design the $500,000 project that revamped the walkways and playspaces at Marlboro Houses in Gravesend, Brooklyn.
Cork Collective received over 450,000 wine bottle corks from restaurants in NYC and elsewhere for the initiative. The corks were shipped to a recycling center in Wisconsin, ground up, and mixed with an adhesive compound before being laid on the grounds at Marlboro Houses.
Nonprofit Center for Justice Innovation, design studio The Urban Conga, and the Marlboro Resident Association asked children living at the NYCHA community to submit mockups of their ideal playspaces. The three organizations used those blueprints when planning the final design.
Around 13 billion cork stoppers are manufactured each year, and less than one percent are recycled, according to a release in the NYCHA Journal. Three billion corks are thrown away in the U.S. annually.
The material has a number of environmental benefits. Cork pathways absorb storm water and mitigate flooding. Cork is a non-toxic alternative to the more common plastic, rubber, or asphalt surfaces. It can also reduce ambient temperatures by 20 to 30 percent, according to NYCHA.
“This beautiful, eco-friendly open space at Marlboro Houses shows what we can accomplish through resident-led design and strong partnerships,” NYCHA chief executive officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt says in the release. “We are grateful to the Marlboro Houses Resident Association, the Public Housing Community Fund, and all of our partners for their collaboration in bringing this project to life.”
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