Recycle old running shoes at any Nike Store

First published on June 19, 2010

If you outgrow or tire of your runners, tennis shoes, basketball shoes, cross trainers and so on, first consider donating them to be redistributed to someone else. However, if you’re the type of person who wears your shoes until they get holes and they start to fall apart, it’s still not time to throw them out — take them to a Nike Store for recycling!

First, check Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe website to find the nearest Nike Store drop-off location. Nike will turn your worn-out shoes into something they call Nike Grind. Nike Grind is used to help build sports facility playing surfaces, such as tracks, tennis courts, and basketball courts. In some cases it is even used as part of the material for new shoes.

The shoes that get recycled / re-used do not need to be Nike branded. Reebok, Adidas, Fila, Saucony and more are all fair game! Non-athletic shoes are not accepted, though. For example, the Reuse-A-Shoe website mentions that they will not take “sandals, flip-flops, dress shoes, boots and other types of shoes”. Be sure to leave a comment if you know of a use for the other types of shoes!

Facebook Twitter Email this

This entry is filed under Environment and written by Peter Keung. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.