http://www.care2.com/greenliving/new-ways-to-recycle-old-shoes.html
New Ways to Recycle Old Shoes
By Jessica A. Knoblauch, Plenty magazine
While we intend to wear flip flops until the snow hits, we’ll probably start alternating them with boots and shoes fairly soon. Fall sales are a good time to shop if you need new footgear, but there’s no excuse for tossing even the scruffiest old shoes in the nearest garbage bin–and then to overtaxed landfills. A sad and unnecessary end!
Happily, there are a number of easy ways to give footwear a new life. If your sports soles have lost their bounce, Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program will take back and recycle any brand of athletic shoe. Just run your shoes over to the nearest Nike store or mail them to Nike’s recycling center in Oregon. Or check out this site for more places to send sneakers out to pasture.
Kids outgrow shoes faster than hermit crabs cast off shells, and often these are lightly worn. And sometimes even older people discover that, ahem, they need a larger size. Donate lightly worn shoes of all sizes to families in need via giveshoes.org.
If your Crocs have curdled, drop them in the nearest SolesUnited location where they’ll be recycled into new Crocs that are donated to people in need.
If you have a closet full of the fancy stuff like heels, you’ve got options. Lightly used dress shoes can be donated to the Cinderella Project, a non-profit that provides gowns and accessories for prom night to girls in need.
Or, see if any of your friends and relations who wear your size is interested in doing a shoe swap. It’s a great way to get rid of one pair of shoes while cheaply obtaining another.
If those options don’t work, check out Earth 911 for the nearest drop off donation center near you.
Plenty is an environmental media company dedicated to exploring and giving voice to the green revolution that will define the 21st Century. Click here to subscribe to Plenty.
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7 comments
add your comment »Any way to recycle non-athletic shoes that are too worn out to donate?
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We recycle our old running shoes to a local running store who takes them to the Mission. Most running stores have a program sililar to this, look around at your local stores (big box stores dont generally do this).
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Thanks for the alternative to the landfill...
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Why not take shoes/clothing in season and in good condition to a resale shop and earn extra money?
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use old tennis shoes as a herb pots
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There's only one problem here, wearing shoes that have been "shaped" by someone else's foot can cause discomfort and damage to young children's feet ... or so I was told by my orthopeadic surgeon. I guess shoes that are "nearly new" should be OK.
A friend of mine turns her old shoes into unique plant pots.
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what a great idea! I have probably 15 pairs of shoes that are too small or too worn down sitting in my closet. Now I can get them to be re-used, and reduce clutter at the same time.
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