Recycle Your Running Shoes for Earth Day

If you're like me, you have a couple pairs of old running shoes in the back of the closet, in the trunk of your car, maybe even under your bed. I don't have any plans to bronze any of my shoes, so I'd love to donate them and give them a second life. Here's what you can do with your old running shoes after you've moved on to a new pair:

• Donate them to Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program. Nike collects worn-out athletic shoes (any brand, not just Nike) and recycles them (rather than going into landfills) into material used in sports surfaces like basketball courts, tennis courts, athletic fields, running tracks and playgrounds for kids around the world.
• Give them to the Shoe Bank, an organization provides shoes for twenty thousand people every year -- primarily children, both in the U.S. and abroad.
• Send them to Sole Responsibility, a non-profit organization started by runners in Ottawa, Canada who donate gently used running and walking shoes to needy people overseas.

Related:

• Ways Runners Can Go Green
• Give Eco-Running a Try