WHY RECYCLE?

Recycle footwear. Be the difference.

Consumers in Britain purchase around 300 million pairs of shoes every year. When shoes end up in landfills, it takes 30 to 40 years for just one pair to decompose.

Responsible recycling allows the extraction of useful materials like foam, rubber and textile fluff that could be used to produce new sustainable products.

  • "Every time I try to recycle my old running shoes I can't find a true and easy option to do it."

    Marathon runner from London

  • "We have concerns about some "footwear recyclers" we spoke to. Traceability is the main one. If the collected footwear is sold or donated overseas, it may eventually end up in landfills polluting the environment. We must avoid this for our products."

    Footwear recycling expert

  • "We had a combination of recycling partners in Europe that helped us with our footwear. But dealing with waste export after Brexit is just too complicated for us. So we put recycling on hold for our UK stores."

    Footwear retailer in the UK

  • "A big challenge is finding suppliers and designing products using footwear recycled materials."

    Leading footwear brand

OUR SERVICE

With Black Square, you can provide your customers with true footwear recycling that is easy and convenient to run.

Sign up with us. Collect footwear in your stores. We'll do the rest.

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HOW IT WORKS

  • We collect footwear in bulk from your UK distribution centres. We recommend starting with at least 500 pairs (one full-size pallet).

    Black Square is a licensed waste carrier in the United Kingdom and all of our operations are compliant with waste regulations.

  • As soon as the footwear is collected, it is taken to our warehouse in London for pre-shipment inspection and preparation.

    It could include sorting, removing heavy contaminations, repackaging and other things needed for waste export and shipment.

  • Taking on the role of a waste exporter, Black Square has developed a waste export mode compliant with UK and Dutch regulations. We have ensured that our supply chain has all the necessary permits and licenses.

    Our network of logistics providers is experienced in cross-border waste shipments and customs clearance.

  • We work with FastFeetGrinded, the world's leading footwear recycling facility based in the Netherlands.

    The underlying technology was developed specifically for footwear processing and allows complete recycling of any footwear. This industrial-scale facility can process up to 2400 shoes per hour.

    The facility regularly passes safety and brand protection inspections by the world's leading footwear brands.

  • Your footwear will be turned into clean and sorted materials that can be used in the footwear industry or for other products.

    The materials include recycled EVA foam, rubber granules, leather scraps, textile fluff, metals, etc. If you choose to collect the materials from us, we will deliver them to the UK.

    Learn more about Recycled materials and products.