Over 300,000 pairs of donated shoes pile up at Tuas warehouse after interest in recycling project wanes
Only about 70,000 pairs of shoes have been repurposed over nearly four years for 18 projects, including a jogging track atop a condominium.
Donated pairs of shoes in a heap at B T Sports' warehouse along Gul Drive.
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SINGAPORE: At a warehouse in Tuas, thousands of pairs of donated sneakers, sandals and other footwear have accumulated in a giant pile.
These shoes, collected from people across the country, were meant to be ground into granules and used in projects like running tracks and playgrounds.
But project partners are now facing an uphill battle to find places that want to use them.
The programme – a collaboration between national sports agency Sport Singapore (SportSG) and materials science company Dow – began nearly four years ago with the aim of recycling 170,000 pairs of used sports shoes every year.
More than 400,000 pairs of shoes have been collected in total. But only about 70,000 of them have been repurposed for 18 projects, including a jogging track atop a condominium.
HOPING FOR MORE PARTNERS
Mr Paul Fong, country director of Dow Singapore and Malaysia, told CNA that the shoes will not be donated or sold to other places.
“We really want to reduce the impact to Semakau Island by utilising the shoes instead of discarding and landfilling them. So the main (aim) of the project is to recycle the shoes, and we hope more parties will come forward to partner us,” he said.
The project currently has four other partners – B T Sports, Alba WH, Decathlon and Standard Chartered Bank.
B T Sports director Hayden Hoon noted that about 22 million pairs of shoes are purchased every year in Singapore. This meant the number of pairs collected since July 2021, when the recycling programme was launched, was “very small” in comparison, he added.
"Of course, collecting this huge amount of shoes from the public – it takes up the space in the warehouse. This space could, of course, be used elsewhere if we hadn't collected the shoes,” Mr Hoon said.
“But nonetheless, we believe that by doing so, we look at the bigger picture, this amount of shoes, this big profile, would have been used to fill up Pulau Semakau.”
In terms of the piles of shoes at the company’s warehouse along Gul Drive, he said the firm – which specialises in manufacturing surfaces for sports facilities – is “managing it as well as we can”.
“Moving forward, we would like to see more usage, and then we can start to try to use up the shoes,” Mr Hoon added.
SHOES VERSUS TYRES
Dow’s Mr Fong said the programme stemmed from a conversation it had with SportSG about ways to deal with shoes discarded by athletes, which would otherwise end up being incinerated or in landfills.
“From the initial lab analysis, we found that the recycled shoe material has a better safety profile and also helps to save carbon footprint from the imported tyre crumbs,” he added.
Singapore is a net importer of rubber tyre crumbs, which can be used for projects like playground surfacing and bike paths.
“In fact, after the initial lab analysis, we commissioned institutes of higher learning, the universities and polytechnics to help us explore the external and indoor application of this recycled shoe material,” Mr Fong said.
Still, an expert told CNA that tyres have been the go-to material for a reason.
“(When using) shoe waste, it's so hard to control the quality of the final product,” said Associate Professor Duong Hai Minh from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Mechanical Engineering.
He noted that tyres are made of a single solid material, but shoes comprise different kinds of materials, making it difficult to control the quality. Recycling shoes is also more expensive.
“And in terms of the performance, if you build running tracks and playgrounds from car tyre waste, it will be more consistent and durable,” Assoc Prof Duong added.
Mr Hoon from B T Sports acknowledged that it is pricier to recycle shoes, but said sustainability will always be costlier.
“The incumbent way of doing things is always going to be the cheaper way. That's how many businesses work,” he noted.
MANAGEMENT IS CRITICAL
Experts also said future initiatives must take into account both supply and demand.
Professor Lawrence Loh of the NUS Business School said the problem of the piles of shoes that currently lie untouched can be avoided in the future.
"I think the most important thing is, of course, management, which includes forecasting the number of shoes you collect, and … the number of shoes you can apply in some feasible projects,” he added.
“Don't over-collect, and even if you over-collect, I think there's a need for due diligence to ensure that the shoes will be applied to the purposes that donors have in mind when they actually part with their shoes for this initiative.”
