Shoe recycling: Landfill reduced as Aussies recycle

The concept of recycling old shoes might be new to some, but a national recycling initiative is on the hunt for your old shoes to keep them out of landfill.

The Tread Lightly scheme takes unwanted sport and active lifestyle shoes, and turns them into new products like retail flooring, anti-fatigue mats, gym, and playground surfaces.

Residents in the inner west Sydney suburb of Drummoyne are leading the way with 3228 pairs of shoes, weighing in at 1614 kilograms, recycled through the scheme.

Melbourne residents are the next biggest recyclers with 3218 pairs of shoes, followed Maribyrnong (in inner city Melbourne) with 3120 pairs of shoes.

Rounding out the top five recyclers were Brookvale, located in Sydney's northern beaches, with 2974 pairs and Doncaster in Victoria with 2652 pairs.

Active and sport shoes can take up to 1000 years to decompose due to the leather, rubber and metal components, Australian Sporting Goods Association executive director Shaun Bajada said.

In the past 12 months 400,000 pairs of shoes were recycled and that saved around 200,000 kilos of rubbish ending up in landfill.

"There's a bit of an appetite to recycle shoes in Australia," he said.

"People need to know that when they recycle shoes it stays in Australia, and gets made into a new product in Australia, and we don't send it overseas."

There's more than 600 Tread Lightly recycling points across the country, to find your nearest one visit treadlightly.asga.com.au.

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