Sport Shoes Recycling
With Waste Action Maleny
What do you do with your worn-out sports shoes? Australians buy 25 million pairs annually, but less than 1% are recycled; most end up in landfill.
Modern sports shoes are made from a mix of petrochemical-based plastics, glues, dyes, and other materials, making them difficult to recycle without specialist equipment and methods. In landfill, these materials can take up to 1000 years to decompose, releasing carbon emissions, microplastics, toxic chemicals, and heavy metal pollutants that can contaminate the environment and cause human health problems.
The good news is there is a national government/industry initiative to recycle sports shoes called TreadLightly. Hundreds of stores participate as drop-off points for this program in Queensland, including Rebel Sport, Platypus Shoes, Shoes and Sox, and The Athlete’s Foot on the Sunshine Coast. Once collected, the shoes are sent to a recycling plant where they get turned into gym mats, flooring, or kids’ playgrounds.
Shoes in wearable condition can be donated to an op shop or to Shoes for Planet Earth, an organisation that provides sports shoes to those in need around the world.