By Roz Weis,
Running shoes don’t have to be in pristine condition to be of benefit to local high school cross-country runners.
The Decorah High School boys and girls cross-country teams are partnering with GotSneakers, a zero-waste sneaker recycling organization, to offer an environmentally-friendly way to recycle used shoes, raise funds and help others in need. Decorah’s cross-country teams recently gathered at the high school track and sent off the second collection of 100 shoes to be recycled through the GotSneakers program.
Organizers and coaches agree it’s a win-win for local athletes.
The partnership with GotSneakers comes at no cost to the local school district, and the cross-country program receives as much $7 per pair of sneakers through the program. The company’s eco-friendly shipping bags are provided to the student volunteers, along with free shipping.
“We package the donated sneakers and send them to GotSneakers to be evaluated,” Sarah Nowak, a fifth grade teacher at Decorah Middle School and the project’s coordinator. “If they are in excellent, good or fair condition, we are paid for them, and the shoes will be given to people in need. The shoes that are in poor condition will be responsibly recycled with the latest end-of-life recycling solutions to ensure sustainability.”
Information from GotSneakers indicated at least 200 million pairs of shoes and sneakers end up in U.S. landfills each year, and shoes in those landfills can take 30 to 40 years to decompose.
“Most people throw away their used sneakers every 125-200 days, without ever thinking about recycling,” information from GotSneakers said. “Since sneakers are manufactured with materials that are not biodegradable, they remain in landfills or are incinerated, which leads to toxic chemicals in our air and soil. Recycling and reusing sneakers keeps them out of landfills, reduces the need for manufacturing new shoes and sneakers, and supports a growing circular economy.”
Once the local students send the sneakers off to GotSneakers, the shoes are sorted to determine where they will be best used. Acceptable shoes are sanitized, restored, cleaned and resold in the thrift community. Approximately 10 percent of the footwear is considered unusable or “recyclable.” And while some of the donated footwear may not be reusable by U.S. standards, it may still be considered reusable in other markets. Project directors said about 80 percent of the donated footwear is considered reusable for global wholesale partners throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East. Sneakers that have reached the end of their usefulness are recycled to reuse the materials.
Nowak said the environmental benefits of recycling and reusing sneakers are significant, and she said giving back to people in need is another important benefit of the program.
“More than 600 million people worldwide don’t even own a pair of shoes,” Nowak stressed, echoing statistics from GotSneakers.
Decorah’s cross-country runners want to continue keeping old shoes out of landfills, and they hope to send off hundreds more donated shoes in the weeks and months to come.
DHS Boys Cross Country
How to donate
Area residents are encouraged to donate old sneakers to the cross country teams’ fundraising project by dropping the shoes off with a coach, cross-country runner or by contacting sarah.nowak@decorah.school to arrange a drop-off. Sneakers also can be dropped off at the Decorah High School office between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The GotSneakers project has recycled and reused 3.5 million pairs of shoes to date.
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