Darren Yip – Special to the Southern News –
Paper, plastic, glass and even old electronics are the usual recyclable items that people think of.
On Thursday night, an awareness program was held in the West Campus residence hall to add another recyclable item to that list: old shoes.
Community coordinator Melissa Crichton was the driving force behind the night’s program.
“I was teaching the residents about a program through Nike. It’s called Reuse-a-Shoe,” said Crichton, junior nursing major.
“Basically, they take athletic shoes – any kind, it doesn’t have to be Nike shoes – and you can either bring it to a Nike store, or you can send them to the Nike factory, and they take every part of the shoe – the sole, the rubber bottom and the fabric – and then make them into synthetic turf. They use the fabric for underneath basketball courts.”
The Reuse-a-shoe logo presented by Nike .
During the course of this awareness program in the hall of West Campus, many athletes were seen walking through the doors of the residence hall on their way to their dorms.
Crichton said that the high number of athletes living in this building was one of her reasons for organizing this program.
“I actually knew about Nike Reuse-a-Shoe from going to the Nike store and seeing the bin, so I did a little bit of further research, and I thought because this is partially an athletic building that this would really pertain to this environment of these students,” said Crichton.
“So I researched further and decided that this was what I’m going to focus on.”
Crichton also said that there are not many places that will accept old shoes for recycling.
“To clean the environment, rather than putting it in dumps, and most of the time, thrift stores don’t take shoes, so this is a great way completely recycle the shoes,” said Crichton.
When asked if she knew old shoes could be recycled, Taylor St. John, freshman special education major, said, “Absolutely not.”
St. John said that she “usually donates [her old shoes] to Goodwill.”
“I didn’t even know that when you’re running on tracks, you’re running on sneakers, which is so weird,” said St. John, referring to the synthetic turf that is made from old shoes under the Reuse-a-Shoe program.
Nora Crann, sophomore exercise science major, said that she usually discards her old shoes.
“My old shoes? I usually just throw them away,” said Crann.
Crann said that she would now consider contributing her old shoes to this program.
“And I would actually do this, like donate them, ‘cause I’m an athlete, so I think it would be good,” said Crann, who’s also on the softball team.
“I would definitely donate my old sneakers, so they’re not just going to the dump.”
Crichton said that after the feedback she received from the residents in West Campus, she might consider taking this awareness program further.
“I initially had not anticipated doing it campus-wide, but I got really good feedback, so I might consider hosting a drive,” said Crichton.
Crichton said that her purpose with this awareness program was, “to inform and educate.”
“The purpose of this program was really an educational program to get the knowledge out,” said Crichton.
“But I also hope that not only will I tell the residents but they will spread it and they will also use the information to then recycle, and make the world a better place.”
