What to do with worn-out shoes?

I've got some climbing shoes that have reached the end of their useable life.  Are there any clothing recyclers that will take old climbing shoes?  Hoping to keep as much gear as possible out of a landfill.

Ryan Cole wrote:

I've got some climbing shoes that have reached the end of their useable life.  Are there any clothing recyclers that will take old climbing shoes?  Hoping to keep as much gear as possible out of a landfill.

Post in the free/ give away section of mp, someone will want them or resole them and are probably willing to pay shipping 

In Europe (the Netherlands) a number of gyms accept worn-out shoes to recycle (for sportsmats). Maybe there are similar orgs in US.

What do you do with street shoes?

Stefan Jacobsen wrote:

What do you do with street shoes?

Another great question. What can we do with shoes instead of sending them to the landfill? 

What do you imagine / guess is recyclable in worn out climbing shoes? 

My answer is: nothing. Nada, zip, zilch. Bin them!

They can serve as a nice objet d’art….

Hi! most Nike store locations have a drop box for shoe recycling. I did a lot of research and there doesn't seem to be any reason that they wouldn't recycle climbing shoes. You just need to make sure there is no metal in the shoe (for climbing shoes with metal circles where the laces go through - I have literally just cut around them with scissors to remove). If the store doesn't have a drop box, in my experience you can give them to someone behind the counter and they will get them into the recycling program. If you are driving a little distance, I would call ahead to make sure the location is connected to the program.

This is the “free” thread on MP

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/124725725/free-geargiving-away-no-requests-v3 

Hide em under the seats in your friends or enemys car.

Or surreptitiously feed them to a crag dog, and act ever so dismayed when you 'discover' that your climbing shoes got eaten by someones sweet lil mongrel

I did a lot of research and there doesn't seem to be any reason that they wouldn't recycle climbing shoes.

Cool, maybe you can answer my question since you've done a lot of research: what, specifically, is recyclable in old climbing shoes?

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

what is recyclable in old climbing shoes?

The whole shoe will probably be ground up and used to fill punching bags. Textile products with a high rubber or plastic content are well suited for this application because of the desired density of the filling. Shoes with a higher foam or knit synthetic material content (modern running shoes) would be better suited to be recycled into automotive sound deadening material that is manufactured similarly but then extruded into a flat sheet.

Sounds like WHAM may know more than me on this! It's also my understanding that rubber can be recycled up to 7 times. Leather is also recyclable, as is fabric. Those materials make up the bulk of a climbing shoe I would guess. Some climbing shoes use synthetic leather (which is made from all kinds of plastics and other stuff and usually can only be down-recycled), but most use real leather. Here's an interesting article on real vs fake leather in climbing shoes if you're interested in the environmental impact. https://blog.weighmyrack.com/leather-vs-eco-leather-vs-synthetic-climbing-shoes/.

Thank you both. OK I can see perhaps some upper making it into punching bags or similar. I can't envision rock shoe soles getting recycled. There's glue and rubber and insole bits, etc. Also leather uppers sweat soaked until stiff as Lot's Wife, that's recycled?

I appreciate the examples but I'm standing pat with "not much" when it comes to climbing shoe recycling. Other footwear, perhaps more (though I've read of the difficulties with recycling Nikes for example)

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

Thank you both. OK I can see perhaps some upper making it into punching bags or similar. I can't envision rock shoe soles getting recycled. There's glue and rubber and insole bits, etc. Also leather uppers sweat soaked until stiff as Lot's Wife, that's recycled?

I appreciate the examples but I'm standing pat with "not much" when it comes to climbing shoe recycling. Other footwear, perhaps more (though I've read of the difficulties with recycling Nikes for example)

Maybe it's just a scam to get you to come throw your old shoes away at a Nike store and then you find yourself at a Nike store 1 pair of shoes lacking. Same as how plastic recycling was a scam to get us to buy more plastic. 

In the Arctic, we eat them. Limited snacking options.

apogee wrote:

You might be interested to know that Errol Morris, who was the reason for this occurrence and film, is a former climber. He was very active at Devil's Lake, and elsewhere, in the mid-60s. He was extremely eccentric, usually climbing in a white shirt and tie, with his shoelaces ( no climbing slippers back then) untied, he also had extremely strong fingers. He was the leading figure in the equally non-conformist Terrible Trio Mountaineering Club (to be a member one had to have 'cratered' --decked--on the lead!!!)--one of several small climbing groups that enlivened the scene at the Lake during those years and laid the foundation for the DLFA in the following decade. He also wrote an accurate and very humorous guidebook to the East Bluffs that was, unfortunately, never formally published.

The film resulted from a bet in which Herzog, himself then an up and coming film maker, said he would eat his shoe if Errol ever actually produced a film, so upheld his part of the bet when Errol did so. Years later Errol won an Oscar for Fog of War.

Sorry for the thread drift.

Alan Rubin wrote:

Sorry for the thread drift.

Entirely worthwhile! Being a longtime Herzog fan, I saw that film years ago- your back story only adds to the appreciation…