Everyone of us has shoes that we no longer wear and is just sitting in the corner of our closet gathering dust
Whether it's because it is no longer our style or because you have grew out of it or maybe you forgot you even have them in your closet.
An average american own 19 pairs of shoes so it's reasonable to not be able to wear all of them or forgets about them.
Here are 10 eco-friendly things you can do with your old shoes that will put it into new use instead of of throwing it away where it will just go straight to the landfill
1. Donate
This is probably the most convenient way that people choose to do is to donate it
you are not only saving the planet but also giving the shoes a new life to someone else's who might need them more.
In order to do this properly, make sure your shoes are in wearable condition, with no rips or tears or too much wear on the bottom if your shoes is too worn you can recycle it which is option 2.
This is optional but will be greatly beneficial
if you have time give the shoes a quick scrub with laundry detergent and water or throw them in the washer before donating it
after all this is where your feet has been , so you might not now if there are any kind of fungus, or odor or any kind of feet diseases that might transmit to other people
There are a couple places where you can donate your sneaker
The first and most obvious one will be Goodwill if you are in the states, they have locations all over the US where you can simply drive up and drop off your donations
The second is donations organizations that brings used footwear and clothes to people in need all around the world, one of the largest organization that bring footwear to people who experiences homelessness , disasters and just people in poverty in general is Soles4Souls
But there are also other organizations such as Samaritan's feet, One World Running,
or if you want a place where you can donate it locally there are a lot of companies that have clothes and donations bin , you can just simply look option clothes and shoes donations bin near me, I have seen a couple in my cities
2. Recycle
if your shoes are too worn to be reused, recycling them is a great option that will make sure it doesn't end up in the landfill.
How these recycling company works is they use technologies to break down sneakers into their constituent materials
and then these materials will then be sorted, cleaned and sold just how raw materials would be and from there these materials could be manufactured into different things using this recycled content.
One of the biggest companies that do this for free is Nike, that have a program called Nike Grind where they will take your old shoes regardless of the brands and turn them into recycled materials
you can drop off your old shoes at selected Nike stores, see if they have locations near you here or they are many local recycling company that will also take old shoes
3. Give It To Homeless People
Another great option is to keep it in the back of your trunk and as you drive around for your daily commute and see a homeless person you can give it to them
although this might be a bit more work since you will have to be able to find someone that wants it or have the same shoe size as you
it's a great way to have a heart warmth personal interaction with people who are struggling.
It's one thing to bring it to a donation bin, or recycle it it's another thing to see a smile on their face when you give it to them personally.
4. Sell It
You might have not take this option in to consideration, but yes people do buy used shoe
there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of used shoes sold on Ebay and other marketplaces a year by regular people who's looking to get rid of their old shoes for cash .
I have articles on this where I talked about how to see what your used shoes are worth and where to sell them on my blog
5. Turn It into Slippers
Yes I know this sounds pretty ridiculous and I have never heard about this before until I stumbled upon a reddit thread one day and this is a thing that people do to give some extra life to their old sneakers and use them to wear around the house or to take the trash out.
How you do this is you according to the reddit user is you just cut off the toungue of your sneakers and wear it when you do your daily chores like take the trash out, or walking your dog things like that
according to him it's still really comfortable, when it has reached its life just simple recycle it
6. Replace the Damaged Parts
This is definitely a more expensive option but if you would like to extend the life of your high-end shoes there are multiple parts on your shoes that you can get fixed or replace that will make your shoes be like new.
For example if you have a hiking boots that the soles has worn out you can bring it to a cobbler and have it replaced with a brand new sole, or if your shoes has any rips and tears they can also see if sew it or glue it back.
People do this a lot with expensive dress shoes where they can get the sole replace multiple times
because the cost and environmental impact this has is much lower than buyer a low-quality pair of shoes every once in a while.
7. Turn Them Into Planters
Upcycling your old shoes is a great way to give your shoes another purpose, one of the ways to do this is to turn them into planters where you can use as a decorative item in your home or in the garden here are some ideas to give you some inspirations: