Warwick shop joins fight against waste

A sports shop in Warwick is doing its bit to help the environment by recycling shoes.
Eve Whitwell, Andrea Beever, Jess Bramley and Max the dog at Warwick Sports.Eve Whitwell, Andrea Beever, Jess Bramley and Max the dog at Warwick Sports.
Eve Whitwell, Andrea Beever, Jess Bramley and Max the dog at Warwick Sports.

The team at Warwick Sports in Swan Street are holding a recycling station for residents who would like to recycle their old shoes.

They are working with Oxfam in Market Place, where the shoes will either go on sale in the shop or be sent to a Third World country.

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Eve Whitwell, a member of staff, came up with the idea. She said: “We recycle quite a lot of things in the shop and we try to recycle as much as possible. I thought that shoes would be a good thing to try.

“We are getting more and more conscious about things now such as ‘disposable fashion’, which is really bad for the environment. People will buy items, not use them and they end up in a landfill.

“We are also trying to be much more aware of the brands we use and the impact they have on the environment. We now stock the Adidas Parley range, which uses plastic found in the oceans.

“We get quite a few people that bring their old trainers with them when they come to get replacements. They are usually battered and they wouldn’t wear them again but the shoes could be reused. We also wouldn’t turn away people donating other shoes apart from sports shoes either as they could be used by someone else.”

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“It would be really nice to get the word out to encourage other businesses to do similar things.”

Andrea Beever, one of the directors at Warwick Sports, said: “We used to recycle shoes a few years ago. We now take the shoes to Oxfam and ones that aren’t good enough to sell in store and if they are unwearable by UK standards they are sent out to a Third World country to people who need shoes. We are so aware about plastic waste and we do our bit to cut down what ends up in a landfill.”