News; Give your old shoes a new life

Some days the inordinate amount of time I spend on the web actually yields something useful and exciting. Case in point: who knew that shoes could be recycled?

In 1993 Nike debuted its Reuse-a-Shoe program, an effort designed to keep shoes from ending up in landfills across the country.

Today, over 15 years since the program's launch, the company recycles nearly one and a half million pairs of athletic shoes each year into products called Nike Grind Rubber, Foam and Upper. All brands of athletic shoes are recycled by Nike.

The soles of shoes are turned into Nike Grind Rubber, which is then used to make track and playground surfaces, interlocking floor tiles for home gyms, and even new shoe soles.

Nike Grind Foam is made from the midsoles and incorporated into basketball and tennis court surfaces.

Fabric from the shoes is recycled into Nike Grind Upper, used as padding for volleyball and indoor basketball courts as well as equestrian surfacing. It takes about 2,500 pairs of shoes to make a basketball or tennis court and 75,000 pairs to make a running track out of Nike Grind.