350 million pairs purchased every year in France*. It's been 11 pairs purchased every second anyway. You will tell us, you have to put shoes. It's true and then in a sense, it suits us!
But the problem is that only 3% of these pairs will not be thrown in the trash once worn. And not even 1% will be recycled. Logical since there is no viable solution to recycle a pair of shoes. The ten elements that compose it makes the operation almost impossible.
But that was before.
Before we meet Mr. Ferreira.
For 15 years, he has been convinced that, once the metal elements (eyelets ...) have been removed, we can recycle a shoe as a whole. And especially that we can use it to make new shoes! Soles to be precise.
#shoesmadefromshoes
That's good, since it's been 18 months since you put your used shoes in our stalls.
The 3000 pairs collected allowed us to produce this revolutionary sole: [re] coltte.
We explain more precisely how we get there:
#1 collection and sorting
We start by collecting your used shoes, regardless of the brand in our differentStalls.We sort the batch of shoes collected in our warehouse at the Lude (a wonderful town in Sarthe).
There we have 2 solutions: the pair is in a state of use: we put it aside and will donate to an association like the restaurants of the heart. The pair is in too bad condition. We send them to Mr. Ferreira, our partner in Portugal.
#2 Recycling in 3 steps (and 15 years of profession!)
1. grinding
Once the metal parts (eyelets, ...) removed from shoes, they are crushed twice in order to obtain a thin powder.2. Heating
This powder then goes in the oven to extract all the chemical components it could contain.3. The press
Now cleaned, the powder passes twenty times in a press to make it a plate that will serve as a basis for the production of [re] coltte.
#3 Production
Once the recycling operation is completed, we can start producing. A clever mixture for a revolutionary sole: 20% recycled shoes, 50% recycled rubber (from production falls) and 30% natural rubber to produce [re] coltte.
If you were lazy to read these few lines, we summed up everything in a nice video!
But above all, to produce our next collections, we need you, because it is together that we can deeply transform our industry.
Bring us your pairs of used shoes.
*Source: "State of the art of sorting, recycling and promotion of shoes for households", report by Bio Intelligence Service for Eco TLC, October 2012.
