Recycling Used Tennis Shoes

When I was a little girl one of my favorite things about a new school year was school clothes shopping. I loved hanging up all my new outfits and deciding on which one would be my “First day of school” outfit. It was such fun!

Now that I am a mother of a school aged child one of my least favorite things about a new school year is going school clothes shopping. I absolutely dread pulling all the clothes and shoes out of the closet, having my son try everything on, separating everything into piles;

• Still fits
• Doesn’t fit but still good enough for others to wear
• To trashed even for Goodwill

Inevitably the shoes always end up in the: To trashed even for Goodwill pile

But not this year. This year they went with us when we bought a new pair.

Instead of throwing away those stinky, smelly, worn out tennis shoes we deposited them in the recycling bin at the Nike store.

“Where worn-out athletic shoes of any brand are collected, processed and recycled into material used in sports surfaces like basketball courts, tennis courts, athletic fields, running tracks and playgrounds for young people around the world.”

I recently learned of this great Reuse-a-shoe program that Nike created. (I can’t believe it has taken me this long to learn about this program.) But now that I know, I am making sure that I spread the word.

One of the great things about this program is that they will take all brands of athletic shoes not just Nike brands.

So instead of adding to the landfill we can help build a playground. I don’t know about your kids but mine would much rather play on a structure surrounded by recycled rubber than by bark chips, sand, or even grass.

Click Find a location near you and help build a basketball court today.  They even accept shoes through the mail. You can’t get much easier than that.

Have you heard of this program before? Have you ever dropped off your used tennis shoes at a Nike store? Were you able to use this article as a link to find a drop-off location near you? I would love to hear about your experience.

Lena  is a working mother of 2 fast growing, shoe destroying kids who is attempting to save the planet one athletic shoe at a time at OverCoffee.

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