The company behind the famous swoosh is known as a premium athletic brand that has consistently produced a quality product.  Whether you play on a court, a track or a field there is a good chance that Nike makes a shoe to suit your needs.  And if you play a lot then you've probably felt the sheer joy of putting on a comfy brand new pair of shoes followed by the melancholy of throwing away your trusty old pair.  Did I say throw away?!  Tsk, tsk!

Nike has a very cool program called Reuse-A-Shoe.  You drop off your used athletic shoes, any brand, and they separate them and turn them into a product they call Nike Grind, which can be best described as a foamy, rubbery popcorn that can be used for all sorts of things.  For example, Nike ACG developed a range of apparel trim and accessories including snaps, buttons and zipper pulls that are made from 50% to 100% Nike Grind material.

What's really amazing is that they've developed ways of reusing Nike Grind in the manufacture of sport surfaces such as basketball courts, tennis courts, playgrounds, running tracks, and much more.  A basketball court can use materials from 2,500 pairs of shoes.  A running track can use material from 75,000 pairs of shoes. 

Nike also uses the same processes at its Asian factories as it uses to recycle consumer's shoes.  That means materials that would otherwise be wasted in the manufacturing process, like outsole rubber for example, can be recycled and reintroduced into the manufacturing cycle to make more outsoles.  It can also contribute to Nike's inventory of Nike Grind material to build sport surfaces.

I suppose in a perfectly eco-friendly world we'd all wear shoes made from hemp and beeswax by a local cobbler.  I think it's very cool whenever a manufacturer takes reponsibility for the full life cycle of their products.  The Nike Reuse-A-Shoe program means you can enjoy your fresh new kicks and not feel guilty about wasting your old ones.  Hit the jump to learn more and find out if there's a dropoff location near you.

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