BSI x Shoe Waste Partnership

Black Sustainability, Inc. has partnered with Shoe Waste, LLC to bring a shoe deconstruction training program to Atlanta, GA.

[ADAPTED FROM SHOEWASTE.COM]

As a primary contributor to fashion trends, African Americans are also responsible for the waste output in the fashion industry.

The sneaker industry alone generated $2.75 billion in 2023. In regards to shoe waste, African American sneaker culture represents over 50% of the sneaker consumption in the US. However, African Americans have a stake in only 5% of footwear retail ownership, and just above 0% of the fashion waste management sector.

With over 41 million African Americans residing in the United States, it is estimated that each owns seven or more pairs of shoes. If each of us were to throw away or “donate” their shoes last year, this would equate to roughly 287,000,000 pairs of shoes heading to landfills in 2023. Since shoes take 40 years to decompose in landfills, African Americans' sneaker/shoe purchases impact the environment with an estimated 11 trillion pounds of CO2 emissions and waste.

According to most podiatrists, shoes should be replaced every 8-12 months for most people or every 500-700 kilometres for running shoes!

What To Do With Shoe Waste

Shoe Waste is a footwear recycling and recovery company based in California and has a solution as a trailblazer in Black-owned fashion waste management. Their goal is to take what would be discarded shoes from the footwear industry and to deconstruct and convert the waste into viable materials for the circular economy.

Recycling shoes extend the life cycle and promotes expansion of the salvage industry. With 10 waste stream characteristics, there is an unmatched value chain that can be discovered.

New Green Jobs

Working together with Shoe Waste, our goal is to educate, inform, and train the next generation of skilled industry leaders.

By taking the next step to learn more information about our Footwear Decon Training Course taking place in Atlanta, GA – you will be at the forefront of the future of green manufacturing.

Stay tuned for future announcements and events focused on this initiative. #Waste #ShoeWaste #Decarbonization