Are you wanting to create a local shoe recycling event in your town and need inspiration? Look to the Moms and Tots initiative in Morristown, New Jersey.

Amanda Powers a member of the group and a mom decided to create a local shoe recycling event in her hometown to entice other moms to bring out and donate old gymshoes. Where do the gymshoes go? They go to the Nike Reuse-a-Shoe program and there they get turned into awesome playgrounds and basketball courts. Through the event everyone (not just moms) are encouraged to bring in a pair (or two) of shoes that either no longer fit or simply have seen better days.

Once Nike receives the donations, their process is pretty cool. They ship to one of their two processing locations, one in Oregon and one in Belgium, where the shoes are sorted and processed into three types of raw material: rubber from the outsole, foam from the midsole and fabric fibers from the upper. That stuff then goes on to be integrated into courts, fields, and playgrounds.

The Moms and Tots group set up the recycling drive as an event and has proven to be a great idea in Morristown. So it might work well in your neck of the woods as well.

For more information on the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe recycling program head on over to their website.

via NJ.com