Shoe were made of leather, wood or canvas some decades back. Currently, a shoe are made of lot of things like rubbers, plastic, other petrochemical derived-material. Foams are mostly used to provide support in the upper of shoes for comfort in the foot. In the 19th century, not many would have lots of pairs of shoes in their wardrobe unless they were athlete or into any kind of sports. But, that has changed a lot in the 20th century were its always common to have 3-4 pairs of shoes per person on an average for their daily needs
Today, the average life of a shoe before it gets discarded is around a year only and it shows the lifestyle that we are moving towards. Its not that the shoe becomes dead in a year, its just that we no more enjoy its company any more. Very few people use their shoes until their sole is completely worn through.
It’s estimated that 20 billion pairs of shoes are produced annually, with roughly 300 million pairs ending up in landfills after they have been worn. The Ethylene Vinyl Acetate, which usually makes up the midsole of most running shoes, can last for as long as 1,000 years in a landfill.
(Information Courtesy https://www.thechicecologist.com/green-living/clothes-accessories/shoe-waste-innovation/)
A shoe that walks our journey of both happy and sad times, should not be dumped and left alone in the dump yard. There are a lot of ways by which we can change the fate of those worn out shoes and give them a better life once we discard them
It is always better to recycle our shoes properly and help them meet another sole mate for their future journey. We are listing below a few ways how we can do our bit to recycle shoes
Donating Shoes - There are lot of NGO and other organization that collects old / discarded shoes and provide them to the poor who cannot afford them on their own
Barter System - There are lot of sites and stores which allow you to barter your used shoes for things which you need and willing to exchange with shoes
Refurbish Sale - There are a lot of ways to sell your used shoes at a discounted price and earn some money rather than dumping it in the waste
Recycling Units - You can always recycle your shoe to those units who collects old shoe time to time and recycle the various elements of shoe back in some form of shoe or foot wear.
A shoe is not only a design,
but it's part of your body language,
the way you walk.
-Christian Louboutin