Giving Running Shoes a Final Kick: How Jog On and Sneaker Impact are Making a Difference

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How much impact do your old running shoes have on the planet? Tune in to hear the statistics behind running shoe waste and discover how you can make a difference. Join us as we highlight Jog On and Sneaker Impact, two pioneering organizations that are transforming the way we think about shoe disposal. You’ll learn how Jog On Again extends the life of running shoes by donating them to those in need and responsibly recycling them, while Sneaker Impact uses groundbreaking technology to repurpose worn-out sneakers into new products, fostering a circular economy.

Resources from the Episode:
From The Wrinkled Runner-
Blog: Jog On and Sneaker Impact: A Shared Mission to Reduce Waste
Podcast: When to Replace Running Shoes

From Other Sources-
Jog On- To donate in the UK
Sneaker Impact- To donate in the US
Sneaker Impact AI Technology Video
The Boston Run Show

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:23):
As an ambassador for the Boston Run Show, I'm
introduced to some really coolrunning resources and companies
that I wasn't aware of beforeattending that conference.
This show gets bigger everyyear, so you can go to the show
notes and find out more aboutthat if you're interested in
attending in 2025.
Des Linden is one of thespeakers, so it's going to be

(00:47):
the best one yet.
Sign up for my once-a-monthnewsletter to get access to free
tickets when registration opensin September.
Jog On Again was one of thecompanies that attended in 2023.
They were collecting usedrunning shoes and they filled
quite a big bin over the courseof the show's weekend been over

(01:09):
the course of the show's weekendso I looked into what they were
doing and found out that 18billion running shoes are sold
worldwide over the course of ayear, which means that 33
million pairs end up inlandfills annually, which is
crazy.
That it can take up to athousand years to degrade and,
of course, as runners, a lot oftimes we go through maybe four

(01:30):
or five pairs a year, so runnersare contributing to a lot of
landfill when we're continuallydoing that.
If we're not responsiblygetting rid of those shoes Now
here in the US, sneaker impactis also doing the same thing.
So I'm going to talk about bothcompanies and what they're
trying to do, and then ways thatyou can get them your old shoes

(01:52):
if you're interested in havingthem take care of that for you.
So a jog on again is activelycollecting running shoes from
individuals and fromorganizations.
Then they sort through them alland then shoes that have
significant life left in themare earmarked for donation to
those in need.
So if you've been running for awhile, you know that, generally

(02:15):
speaking, usually shoes areused for between 300 and 500
miles for a lot of us, and ifyou do any kind of a distance
race or you're running a lot ofmiles every week, you can get
through that pretty fast.
So for a lot of these shoes,there's only 300 miles, 500
miles on them, and so for peoplewho are not as fortunate as us

(02:40):
to be able to buy these shoes,there is still significant life
in them to be able to wear themas footwear.
So donating them not onlyreduces waste but also promotes
accessibility to qualityfootwear for runners and for
others who may not have themeans to purchase new shoes, for

(03:02):
shoes that have reached the endof their usable lifespan.
Dog On Again ensures that theyare disposed of responsibly.
This means finding innovativeways to recycle or repurpose
materials, and then evendiscarded shoes don't contribute
to the global landfill.
Sneaker Impact takes thesneakers that can't be reused
and a partner company thengrinds them up.

(03:24):
They then send the ground-upmaterial through through a
machine and, through AI, thismachine has the capability to
separate them into differentmaterials.
So then these materials areused in different ways to craft
new products, and in the shownotes, I'll link you to a video
that actually shows you theprocess that these shoes go

(03:46):
through to separate this intodifferent materials.
The sneakers that are able tobe reused are offered at a
fraction of the cost to smallbusinesses in communities around
the world that can revive themand then resell them at
affordable prices, whichprovides local people a way to
make money in their own business.
By extending the lifespan ofused shoes through donation and

(04:09):
responsible disposal practices,these companies not only reduce
waste, but also promote acircular economy within the
running community, and when youknow about stuff like this, it
can inspire you then to donatethose used shoes instead of
keeping 24 pairs of them.
So what I've been doing is,instead of keeping all of my

(04:30):
shoes.
I keep the last pair that I wasrunning in for, kind of like
just knocking around or as gymshoes or whatever, and then I
have my new pair and then donate.
You know what was my runningshoes like two shoes ago?
So I've started to gather thoseshoes and once I've accumulated

(04:51):
enough pairs I'm going to sendthem off to donation.
So if you'd like to learn more,head to the show notes for
links to the websites To donate.
In the UK, you can go to thewebsite johnonagaincom and
there's a link to a postal labelthat you can print out.
You can send up to 40 pairs ofshoes for only two pounds.
So if you're part of a runningclub or park run or something

(05:15):
like that, with the ability todonate up to 40 pairs at a time,
you could head up a donationdrive and have a bunch of people
bring their used shoes in andget to that 40 pairs.
In the US, you can go to theSneaker Impact website and then
they will give you the option ofgetting a prepaid label for up
to seven pairs of sneakers.

(05:36):
So that's the option that I'mgoing to be doing in sending
mine and my husband's If you'rea business that's interested in
collecting more than that.
There's an option to gathermore information about that too.
For those of you in the USFinding ways to help others and
the earth at the same time,these two companies are making a
difference, and if you know ofother organizations that are

(05:58):
having an impact onsustainability within the
running world, please send me anemail or use the fan mail
button on the show notes pageand I may do a podcast episode
on it to pass along theinformation so that we can all
help in this process of helpingpeople and helping the world.