Recycle Your Old Kicks!

Don’t throw away your old shoes! The ReUSE a SHOE program from Nike and the National Recycling Coalition will take your old, beat up athletic shoes and transform them into a playground or a basketball court!

Nike also uses the old shoes for zippers, athletic mats, accessories, tennis courts, synthetic turf, tracks and other surfaces. Click here to see what else is made from the recycled shoes.

Training Ground Floor Tiles made from recycled shoes.

Cick here to find a ReUSE a SHOE location by you. If there isn’t one near you, talk to an organization in your city and host a shoe drive (you must be committed to collecting 200+ pairs of shoes to host a drive). Any brand of athletic shoe can be recycled, just be sure that there is no metal on the shoe (e.g., cleats). Unfortunately, you can’t recycle your work boots or stilettos- just athletic shoes.  

Since the program’s start in 1990, over 23 million pairs of shoes have been recycled. That’s a significant amount of shoes out of our landfills, but we can do better. Pass this post on and let everyone know about the ReUSE A SHOE program!