This Friday The new playground with recycled cork flooring in Cassà de la Selva has been officially inaugurated, a pioneering initiative in Spain promoted by the Catalan Cork Institute Foundation (ICSuro) in collaboration with the Cassà de la Selva City Council, within the framework of the state bioeconomy project FUTURECORK.

During the institutional event, certificates of participation were awarded to the establishments that have been part of the bottle cap collection pilot test, recognizing their contribution to making this innovative project possible.

The event was attended by the mayor of Cassà de la Selva, Pau Presas; the councilor for Economic Promotion, Àlex Font; and the director of the Catalan Cork Institute Foundation, Albert Hereu, who highlighted the importance of citizen and institutional collaboration to make initiatives that combine sustainability, innovation and commitment to the territory a reality.

Campaign results

The pavement installed in the park has been made with 280 kg of recycled cork stoppers, coming from both citizen collection in the municipality and the collaboration of Palafrugell, which is also participating in the pilot test. In Cassà de la Selva alone, between November 2024 and August 2025, 105.44 kg of cork stoppers (around 19,000 stoppers) have been collected through affiliated establishments and the direct participation of citizens, to which must be added another 90 kg contributed voluntarily by individuals.

The cork collection campaign began with 36 collection points in Palafrugell and 23 in Cassà de la Selva, distributed among supermarkets, restaurants, specialized stores, businesses and educational centers.

The pavement

The recycled cork flooring used is an innovative and sustainable product that offers comfort, friction, thermal insulation, permeability and safety against falls, as the 7 centimeters thick flooring absorbs falls of up to 2 meters, thus complying with safety regulations. Furthermore, unlike other common materials, it does not emit polluting compounds into the air.

The councilor for Economic Promotion and Tourism, Àlex Font, comments "We are very proud to be the first to have a park with a cork pavement and to have participated in this project because it represents the transformation of cork as an innovative and sustainable element. Cassà is a cork town and with the project we promote this industry at the same time as we implement our plan to improve parks and gardens"

The new flooring complies with the safety regulations UNE EN 1177:2008 and UNE EN 1176:2008, thus guaranteeing maximum performance for children's use. This project represents a clear example of circular economy applied to the cork sector, contributing to its sustainability and highlighting a natural and renewable material such as cork.

Albert Hereu, director of the Catalan Cork Institute, says “This playground shows that giving new life to used cork stoppers is possible. With this solution, we manage to extend the life of the stoppers so that they continue to function as a carbon dioxide reservoir and we provide a sustainable alternative for playground pavements.”