101 Things in 1001 Days

94. Recycle my old shoes

Completed 5 December 2010



I wandered down to Potomac Mills to the Nike outlet store there, where they have a donation bin for the Nike Reuse-a-Shoe. It took me a while, since the mall map doesn't actually list individual stores, but rather just tells you what section each one is in - and it totally lied when it told me the Nike store was in section 5 (it's in section 3). I ended up dropping off six pairs of shoes, which made me feel good, but I'm not positive it was worth the hell of visiting Potomac Mills. Granted, it's my own stupid fault for going on during a weekend in December. Anyway, it's done and the shoes are out of my house, so that's good.

94. Recycle my old shoes

I did a little research on this. I knew it was possible; I just didn't know where to take them. Somehow I don't think my shoes are appropriate for curbside pickup. :)

See, these shoes are far too worn out to donate to the thrift store. I don't really care what happens to them; I just don't like to throw out something that clearly has a fair amount of reuseable materials.

The main trouble was finding a local place to drop them off. Shoes are bulky and heavy; I didn't want to have to mail them. Perhaps the most comprehensive list of links I found was at EduBook. Most of them are located in other countries (or Texas and Colorado, which might as well be other countries when you live in Virginia), but there is a large international drive called Nike Reuse-a-Shoe. They have drop-off locations at all of their local outlet stores. Score! Next time I'm out that way (or, more likely, make a special trip), I'll be sure to bring my old sneakers.

Now I just have to figure out how to recycle my high heels. Earth911 is great, but there's nowhere that specifically accepts dress shoes - at least that I've found yet. But I'm still looking.