Soles4Souls(R) Inc, The Shoe Charity Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Earth Day With Nationwide Shoe Recycling Programs

Companies like CBL Properties, the national mall chain, are helping keep the world clean by encouraging shoppers to recycle their shoes

News provided by

Soles4Souls

Apr 07, 2010, 03:38 ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- This year more than 300 million pairs of shoes will end up in landfills in the United States (U.S. Dept. of Interior). From there, shoes can take more than 40 years to break down and decompose. Combined with non-biodegradable products like electronics, they can dispense toxins into the ground. But what if the items you toss could help change someone’s life? Soles4Souls, the international shoe charity that gives away new and gently worn shoes, is helping celebrate 40 years of Earth Day by offering the general public a safe and environmentally friendly way to dispose of their unwanted shoes while providing shoes for those who need them.

During the month of April, Soles4Souls is asking people to ‘go green’ by cleaning out their closets and dropping off their gently worn shoes at drop-off locations in their area. Soles4Souls is collaborating with businesses like CBL Properties, where people can visit any of CBL’s 70 shopping malls to recycle their shoes. For a list of participating shopping malls, visit www.cblproperties.com. There are also 4,000 other official drop-off locations throughout the country. To find a drop-off location in your area, visit www.giveshoes.org.

“We have a goal at Soles4Souls to prevent even one pair of shoes from making it into the landfills,” said Wayne Elsey, Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls. “With the 40th anniversary of Earth Day we are setting a precedent by teaching the public about the international need for shoes and how recycling your old shoes can essentially save someone else’s life. We need more companies like CBL to step up and help further the global effort to reuse,” he said.

The shoe charity recently committed 1.3 million pairs of shoes to the country of Haiti to help the victims of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

About Soles4Souls®

Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. We distribute these shoes, free of charge, to people in need around the world. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away over 8.5 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes (currently distributing one pair every 9 seconds).

SOURCE Soles4Souls