Democracy Dies in Darkness
Climate Solutions

How to give your old sneakers a second life

More than 300 million pairs of shoes end up in U.S. landfills each year. Your worn-out sneakers could have more value than you think.

4 min
Old shoes can be donated, recycled or repaired to avoid ending up in landfills. (Suamy Beydoun/AGIF/AP)
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Shoes take a beating. They get wet, dirty and scuffed. Soles wear down. Laces break.

If you think the only thing you can do with the grubby sneakers you’ve worn to death is throw them out, you’re not alone. In the United States, more than 300 million pairs of shoes end up in landfills each year, said Karen Pearson, chair of the Sustainability Council at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

But Pearson and other experts say worn-out shoes could have more value than you think.

“These are things that could have a second life,” she said.

“We all need to have shoes,” Pearson added. “There’s a lot of ways that they can be donated, recycled or repaired, and based on your own personal convenience and needs, you can do one of those things quite easily today.”

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