The criteria for shoes to be recycled are that they must be tennis shoes (no dress shoes), no cleats or metal within the shoes and they can't be wet or damp since the shoes might be stored before shipping. Nike schedules shipping to minimize their carbon footprint and ships only when collection points meet a certain criteria. Also, no matter what brand these shoes are.
Locally, there's two collection points for the Reuse-A-Shoe program: The Nike Factory Store at Miromar Outlets, found at 10801 Corkscrew Road in Estero (click here for a roadmap) or even the Nike Factory Store at Tanger Outlets, located at 20350 Summerlin Road in Ft. Myers (click here for a map). The Venice YMCA is hosting a collection at their triathlon on September 4, 2010. Nike asks that you simply bring a maximum of 10 pairs at a time. If you are through an event or need to get your business or school involved, you may also be a Nike Community Activist.
Instead of tossing your old athletic shoes into the landfill, drop them at one of the collection points for the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe or assist the environment by starting a group drive at your workplace, school or event.For those who have questions or suggestions, please email me. If you want to discuss any of the topics, check out our Facebook page.
The environment is important to many fitness enthusiasts. They involve themselves in lots of of the identical activities the rest of the public gives recycle. But there's one program that's aimed directly at the fitness populations, the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe program.
The program was conceived in 1990 and placed into action in 1993. In 1999 it expanded the program into Asia and in 2002 into Australia and Europe. This program works by taking worn-out tennis shoes and recycling them into a material called Nike Grind. Shoes are taken from US collection points and shipped to some facility in Memphis, Tennessee. The shoe is split into three parts, top of the, midsole and outsole. The entire shoe can be used. Each part is then ground into Nike Grind. Some of the Grind is put back into Nike products including zipper pulls and snaps on Livestrong jackets or All Conditions Gear and the outsoles of shoes such as the Pegasus 25 or the Jordan XX3.
The rest can be used for sports surfaces. The material can be used on playground surfaces, running tracks, gym and weight room flooring, tennis courts and synthetic grass soccer or football fields. The material may also be used as padding underneath indoor synthetic or wood courts. It's included with raw materials, and surfacing companies may use between 10 and 40 % of Nike Grind. A backyard basketball court may use 2,500 pairs of recycled shoes, a complete soccer field may use 50,000 to 75,000 pairs along with a running track will probably use 75,000 pairs. Since the program started, Nike has recycled 25,056,779 pairs of shoes that would otherwise sit in a landfill.