Today's Old Shoes are Tomorrow's Football Fields

From the ITW Hi-Cone Courier newsletter Issue XIII, Summer 2006 Today’s Old Shoes are Tomorrow’s Football Fields			return to main page



	Ever think you could recycle those smelly old gym shoes stashed in your closet or garage? Most worn court or running shoes are relegated for chores like painting and lawn mowing and eventually are tossed. But now ITW Hi-Cone and other companies are encouraging their employees to recycle old athletic shoes. In collaboration with the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Illinois (SWANI) and Nike, Hi-Cone employees participated in the company’s first-ever Re-use-a-Shoe program in April.
“We thought it would be a good idea to expand our internal recycling effort through this easy-to-implement program,” said Hi-Cone’s Recycling Coordinator Angie Donati. “Everyone has old athletic shoes they want to get rid of but, unfortunately, we often have no alternative except throwing them in the trash bin for dumping in a landfill. Hi-Cone employees are avid recyclers and they were enthusiastic in their support for the Nike program.” Since 2000, SWANI has collected more then 37,000 pairs of discarded athletic shoes for Nike. The company, best known for its distinct “swoosh” logo, takes all brands of shoes as long as they are canvas-type athletic footwear used for basketball, running, tennis and cross-training. The grind output generated at Nike’s Oregon recycling facility becomes raw material for production of all-purpose athletic surfaces and, therefore, must not contain material that could be harmful to an athlete. Spiked or cleated shoes, sandals, dress shoes, boots and athletic looking walking shoes are not accepted for recycling. Nike donates sport courts, tracks and athletic fields to communities worldwide to encourage children to be more physically active. Donati said she was encouraged by the number of athletic shoes collected from Hi-Cone and is considering how the company can increase participation in the program next year.
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