ThuRs Recycle and Reuse
My husband and I laugh as we are driving down the road and there is one shoe thrown out on the highway. Sometimes we see sneakers tied together over wires. There are better ways to dispose of those shoes that no longer fit or have lost their pizazz.
“Changing the world one pair at a time.” Is the slogan for Soles4Souls, a non-profit that began its mission in the aftermath of the tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004. To date the group has found new owners for over 8 million shoes.
Donate “gently worn” footwear to people in need instead of throwing them in the trash. With the locator and your zip code, It is easy to find shoe retailers who have agreed to be permanent collection sites. We have five locations here in the Columbus, OH area alone.
Formed in 1990, Nike’s Reuse A Shoe program takes apart athletic shoes and reuses the materials to make three kinds of athletic surfaces. There are a few locations in each state that will take individual shoe donations. Group donations can be organized and dropped off at Nike retailers, but you must get approval BEFORE you start collecting!
Nike says “More than 1.5 million pairs of post-consumer shoes are collected for recycling each year. This is in addition to thousands of tons of manufacturing scrap material that is recycled. Since the program began, we’ve collected more than 24 million pairs of used athletic shoes. See the recycling process in action.
Keep your old shoes off the highways and give them new life on another pair of feet or as an athletic surface.
More posts in this series:
- On Being Content and Giving Away the Excess February 26, 2010
- ThuRsday Recycle and Reuse: Toys March 4, 2010
- ThuRsday Recycle and Reuse: Prom Dresses March 11, 2010
- ThuRsday Recycle and Reuse: Eyeglasses March 18, 2010
- ThuRsday Recycle and Reuse: Bicycles March 25, 2010