Last week, while picking up photos from my local Walgreens, I came across a bin on the outside of a store claiming to recycle old shoes called "Shoes for the Cure". Ureka!
The next day, I went back and dropped off 7 pairs of shoes that were too tattered and worn for donation to another organization. Today I appeal to you to do the same.
Who is Shoes for the Cure?
They are “a professional recycling company that specializes in collecting new and used footwear for recycling, regardless of condition.”
Keep in mind, over 350 million shoes end up in landfills every year where they can take about eighty years to decompose. Alternately, if they're incinerated, they release toxins into the air.
Shoes for the Cure boasts: “It's easy! All you need to do is drop your shoes into one of our specially marked bins and we take care of the rest.”
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2010.