We love to run and be as active as possible, and thus tend to wear out our athletic shoes every 9-12 months or so. The question then became awhile back - what do we do with our worn out shoes??? Just sending them to the landfill isn't an option for us. However, we could give them away to a charity store to be re-sold or given to someone in need, which is always the first thing we do with everything else, but they're REALLY worn and kind of smelly :). Thus, our athletic shoes have been collecting over the past couple of years awaiting some action and it was way past time to do something.
I had read somewhere about Nike taking worn out athletic shoes and indeed they do. They have a program called Reuse-A-Shoe with which they collect ANY brand of athletic shoes and recycle them with their partner Nike Grind, then turning the material into playgrounds, basketball courts, running tracks, etc. etc.! Isn't that beautiful? - worn out shoe material into surfaces that people get tons of enjoyment out of! That's the way everything should be - everything always recycled into something else.
There are a couple ways that you can go about doing this...Drop them off at your local Nike store or go to their website here and hopefully find a dropoff location in your area. There was only ONE in all of Texas which is pretty sad and it's not at all near us, so we're mailing ours in to:
Nike Recycling Center
c/o Reuse-A-Shoe
26755 SW 95th Ave.
Wilsonville, OR 97070
They only have a couple limitations:
No cleats, dress shoes, or shoes containing metal, and no wet or damp shoes
Pretty easy! OH a little shoe buying tip - go to a specialty running store (like Luke's Locker locally) as they will do a custom shoe fitting for you (even make you run on a treadmill and watch your form) and make sure you get the perfect shoe for your feet and the way you run/walk. Having the right fit and type of shoe really makes all the difference! Buy from them the first time, and then after that, you can find "your" shoe online at different websites for MUCH less!
Have an active weekend.
5 comments:
Just stumbled across your blog. My hubby and I just got new running shoes and didn't feel right throwing the old ones away. Thanks for posting about the recycling options!
That's such a good idea!
you must do your research...good for you! have a super week!
YAY! You rock!
Found my way over from Blue Yonder blog, and am now so glad. I've been keeping my sons' shoes and wondering what to do with them, now that they are getting too used to pass on to his younger brother.
Love when I find a justification for the time spent blogging!
BTW, we live in a tiny town in Utah, far from any city with "real" recycling. Our city doesn't pick up any recycling, but because we live in such a beautiful place, so many of the people who live here value it and still recycle. Whenever anyone is heading to Salt Lake City (4 hrs away) the word goes out and everyone brings fills their car with their boxes of milk cartons, etc. I just can't fathom not taking advantage of a city program!
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