In yet another move to reduce solid waste and increase innovative recycling, Israel has joined Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe project.
The Reuse-A-Shoe project was started in the United States in 1990 as a way to recycle old sports shoes. Instead of allowing these worn-out items to be tossed into landfills, Nike collects the shoes and salvages rubber from the outsole, foam from the midsole, and fabric fibbers from the upper. They then grind these materials into a mixture called “Nike Grind,” which they use to build sports facilities like basketball courts, running tracks, and children’s playgrounds.
Since 1990, Reuse-A-Shoe has expanded to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and several countries in Europe (including the United Kingdom, where they have a special partnership with legendary soccer team Manchester United).
Nike estimates they have recycled over 23.2 million pairs of sports shoes, which amounts to thousands of tons of recycled materials, and built over 300 Nike Grind sports surfaces in communities all over the world.
The Israeli Reuse-A-Shoe collection site will be located in Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv. Bring your old shoes, look for the Nike flag, and then just do it!
:: Ynet (Hebrew), Reuse-A-Shoe
Image Credit: d70focus
For more on solid waste recycling projects in the Middle East:
Eco Suit Company Bagir Makes Earth Friendly Deal With Egypt
Qatar and the UK Research On Recycling Plastic Waste
Recycling Bins Take the Form of Art in Tel Aviv
Author: Rachel Bergstein
When her vegan summer camp counselor explained to a fifteen-year-old Rachel how the dairy industry pollutes the groundwater in poor rural communities and causes global warming, there was no turning back. Her green fire lit, Rachel became increasingly passionate about the relationship between human societies and the natural environment, particularly about the systemic injustices associated with environmental degradation. After snagging a B.A. in Peace and Justice Studies at the University of Maryland, where she wrote an undergraduate thesis on water injustice in Israel/Palestine and South Africa, Rachel was awarded the New Israel Fund/Shatil’s Rabbi Richard J. Israel Social Justice Fellowship to come and spread the green gospel in Israel for the 2009-2010 academic year. She currently interns for Friends of the Earth Middle East in their Tel Aviv office. When Rachel is not having anxiety about her ecological footprint, carbon and otherwise, she can be found in hot pursuit of the best vegetarian food Tel Aviv has to offer. She also blogs about her experience as an NIF fellow and environmentalist in Israel at organichummus.wordpress.com. Rachel can be reached at rachelbergstein (at) gmail (dot) com.
To have a good heath, not only do we must have regular life and dietary habit, but also we must increased physical activity. Decreasing the risk for cardiovascular diease; Reducing the amount of bone loss that is associated with age and osteoporosis; To do physical activity, we may have some risks too, so we must wear gym suit and a pair of shoes to protect ourselves
Excellent! But for people to Do It, there need to be collection points in other places – also campaigns where schools promote recycling and take the kids – sneakers in hand – to visit the Big City and make their contribution to recycling.
This is a great thing.
Now we just need to get the people be aware of it and to do it.
As with most recycling efforts public education and promotion gets the ball rolling. This is a great effort by Nike.
Thanks for the information.
Robert