Donate Your Old Sports Shoes For A Good Cause
When our sports shoes get worn and dirty, most of us would just throw them in the bin. But did you know that the shoes can serve a greater purpose?
The folks over at ActiveSG certainly do, as they’re running a collection drive to turn old sports shoes into public amenities like jogging tracks, fitness corners, and playgrounds.
From 5 Jul, ActiveSG will be kickstarting a new project with the aim of recycling 170,000 pairs of shoes a year. According to them, that amount generates enough material for a 3.3km jogging track.
Recycling old shoes can save landfills
This permanent shoe waste collection ecosystem is a collaboration between materials science company Dow and national sports agency Sport Singapore (SportSG).
Other partners include B.T. Sports, Alba WH, Decathlon, and Standard Chartered Bank.
Via this project, the partners hope to reduce the load on Semakau, Singapore’s only offshore landfill.
Last year, in a similar project, more than 75,000 pairs of shoes were collected between September and December.
Donate your sports shoes & build public amenities
In case you’re wondering what types of shoes they’ll accept, here’s a list that might help:
- Sports shoes
- School shoes
- Football boots without metal studs
- Rubberises slippers & sandals without metal parts
When you donate a pair of shoes, the rubberised soles and midsoles will be ground up into rubber granules that will be used to build sports infrastructures such as running tracks, playgrounds, or fitness corners.
You can drop the footwear off at participating ActivSG sports centres and stadiums, Decathlon stores, schools, and tertiary institutions from 5 July.
The full list of collection points is available via the link here.
Don’t let useful material go to waste
Though discarding old and unusable objects is a natural instinct, perhaps we can change that habit especially when these items can contribute to a good cause.
Besides reducing waste, we’d be helping to add more amenities the public can enjoy.
So let your friends and family know about this initiative, and start clearing your collection of old shoes.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured images adapted from Malik Skydsgaard on Unsplash and JustRunLah!.
