All footwear reaches the end of its lifespan eventually, and while saying goodbye to a comfortable, well-fitting and stylish shoe can be hard, keep this in mind: it means you get to buy a new pair!
If you’ve got old shoes laying around, this guide is for you. Whether they’re too worn out to wear or you’ve just stopped wearing them, we’ll give you 8 things to do with your old shoes to stop them ending up in landfill.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- The benefits of recycling your shoes
- 8 ways to recycle your old shoes
- What else you can do with old shoes
The Benefits of Recycling Your Shoes
Getting rid of an old pair of shoes comes with a suite of potentially unexpected benefits. For example:
- It’s good for the environment: remember the Three Rs? Reduce, reuse, recycle? This simple phrase is intended to minimise the amount of waste we create in our daily lives, as a way to make resources last longer and reduce the environmental impact of our actions.
- You’re conserving resources: Shoes are generally made up of lots of different materials, and depending on the method you use, recycling them can make this material available for other purposes rather than sending it to a landfill site or an incinerator.
- It saves energy: disposing of waste uses a lot more energy than reusing or recycling, meaning that recycling your old shoes contributes to using less energy.
- You can make a real difference in the world: plenty of shoe recycling options connect your old footwear with people who can make good use of it, whether by wearing it, selling it, or making use of the constituent parts.
- The feel-good factor! Let’s be honest, recycling brings a nice fuzzy feeling because you’ve made a decision that makes a small positive change to the world. There’s no shame in embracing this feeling!
Now that we’ve looked at the benefits, let’s take a look at the methods.
How to Recycle Your Old Shoes
Below you’ll find 7 ways to recycle your old shoes. The list is a good starting point but is far from exhaustive - the only limit when recycling shoes is your creativity!
1. Give Them to a Friend
If they’re in wearable condition, it’s always worth asking around to see if anyone wants the shoes, you’re planning to get rid of. Just because you’ve grown apart from them doesn’t mean someone else won’t enjoy wearing them!
2. Donate to a Local Charity Shop
Perhaps the most obvious step is to take your shoes to a charity shop. These stores are always on the lookout for clothes, houseware, books, and other items that are in good, sellable condition, and you get the satisfaction of helping your chosen charity to raise funds.
When donating shoes to a charity shop make sure they’re clean and in good condition. Shoes that aren’t in suitable condition will likely be thrown away!
3. Take Them to a Shoe Bank
Have you ever spotted the big metal bins for recycling glass, cardboard and plastic in supermarket car parks and similar places? Sometimes amongst these you’ll find bins for clothes and shoes: any items you pop in here will be picked up by a textile recycling company or charity who will sell them or connect them with other people or projects who can make use of them.
4. Take Them to Recycling Centre
If your old footwear is beyond upcycling, you can locate your nearest recycling centre. These centres will responsibly recycle your worn-out shoes, slippers, and trainers. Recycling your footwear helps the environment by reducing pollution and protecting our ecosystems and wildlife.
Please note, shoes cannot be placed in your household recycling bin or black bin, which is typically for non-recyclable household waste. To ensure your old footwear is recycled responsibly, please take them to a designated recycling centre.
5. Sell Them on Vinted
Keen to get rid of your shoes and make a bit of money while you’re at it? Online marketplaces like Vinted, eBay and similar are great for this: all you need to do is take some good quality pics of your shoes, set your price, publish a listing, and wait for the offers to come in.
We recommend researching similar pairs to make sure you’re setting a fair price. And if you’ve not got any offers after a while, maybe it’s time to drop the price a little.
6. Use Them for Crafting
Whether it’s reusing a shoe in its entirety or stripping it down into materials, using shoes for arts and crafts is an activity limited only by your imagination. Here are some possible options:
- Collage day with the kids! Add your shoes to a pile of materials and task your kids with creating artistic collages
- Bookends! Fill your old shoes with something heavy to weigh them down (sand or loose stones, perhaps?) and pop them up on your bookshelf to keep books in place
- If you’ve got kids or a particularly strong creative streak, there are tons of other ways to reuse old shoes. Turning them into flower pots, for instance. Poke a few holes through the soles for drainage (or use a drill if they’re particularly hard), fill them with soil, and pop in a plant (or some seeds if you want to wait a little longer). Gone are your forlorn old shoes, in their place a bright and kooky garden decoration that will draw the eye of even the most discerning visitor.
As we say, your imagination is the limit.
7. Pop Them in the Compost
Depending on the materials and the type of compost you have, you might be able to put some parts of your old shoes into the compost pile. Natural leather can be composted depending on the tanning method, and 100% cotton can be as well - it’ll take about 6 months to degrade.
What Else Can You Do with Old Shoes?
Not inspired by the list above? Or maybe you’ve decided to keep hold of the shoes after all. Either way, here are a few other ideas for you:
- Mend them! If you were thinking of getting rid of them because of the condition, remember there are lots of ways to fix an old shoe. Our shoe care range has a selection of cleaning and maintenance products, and your local cobbler will have even more tools at their disposal.
- Demote Them! Shoes that aren’t good for outdoor wear can be great for dirty jobs like gardening, painting and decorating and similar. Pop your old shoes in a box in the garage until you need them.
- Relegate them to dog walks! In a similar vein, if your shoes are in good enough condition to wear outside but no longer fit your style, you can use them as sacrificial shoes for dog walking: get them wet and muddy with no worries.
Say Shoo to Your Old Shoes!
Getting rid of a well-loved pair of shoes isn’t easy, but as we’ve seen in this guide, there are plenty of creative, feel-good ways to do it. Whether you opt for the simple charity shop option or reimagine your old boots as a meaningful collage, there are more than enough ways to keep them away from landfill.
And, if you’re in the market for a new pair of shoes to replace the old ones, we can help you with that as well. Our new-in collection features an exciting, ever-evolving lineup of shoes, from sandals and trainers, to heels, wedges and more.
We’re also here to help if you have any other questions about shoes and shoe care. Our fantastic team is ready to give you a hand with your query, whatever it is. Just get in touch today and we’ll be happy to help!