In partnership with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010
Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), Nike announced its plans
to refurbish a court surface in Vancouver with a collection of
re-purposed, old running shoes.

Team Canada members, Gillian Apps, Jayna Hefford and Jennifer Botterill  dropped off their old running shoes at the Nike Robson street store to kick off Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe drive. 

Throughout the 2010 Winter Games, Nike will collect old running shoes from Vancouverites and athletes in six Reuse-A-Shoe collection bins located inside partner stores throughout the city. The shoes collected from these bins will be recycled into Nike Grind, a material used in creating athletic and playground surfaces, as well as select Nike products. Since the program’s inception in the early 1990’s, more than 24 million pairs of shoes, plus thousands of tons of scrap material from footwear manufacturing, have been rescued from landfills around the world and reborn in to play surfaces.

“I am happy to participate in a program that gives back to the people of Vancouver,” says Gillian Apps. “Over the past week I have witnessed the passion we all share for sports and how it can bring people together. This resurfaced court will be a lasting thank-you gift to the city of Vancouver for reminding us all what a difference sport can make to a community.”

Donations are being accepted at the following locations:

    –   Nike Robson / 1124 Robson Street / Vancouver / 604.683.2221
    –   Nike Metrotown / 1222-4700 Kingsway / Burnaby / 604.430.6453
    –   Nike Richmond / 1592-6551 No. 3 Road / Burnaby / 604.276.0015
    –   Nike Park Royal / 1592-6551 No. 3 Road / Burnaby / 604.276.0015
    –   Nike Kerrisdale / 2120 W. 41st Avenue / Vancouver / 604.264.1246
    –   Nike Oakridge / 650 W. 41st Avenue / Vancouver / 604.267.1972

Reuse-A-Shoe stands as one of Nike’s longest-running environmental community programs and is an integral part of the company’s goal of closing the loop on its manufacturing process. Nearly every part of each donated shoe will be recycled through the Nike Grind process. Athletic shoes of any brand collected through the Reuse-A-Shoe program, along with scrap materials from worldwide shoe manufacturing facilities, are processed into three types of Nike Grind material:

  • Nike Grind Rubber is the granulated rubber product derived from athletic shoe outsoles and manufacturing scrap material is used in the construction of rubberized running tracks, weight room flooring, playground safety surfacing and as the infill for synthetic turf fields
  • Nike Grind Foam is comprised of the foam material produced from athletic shoe mid-soles and is used in constructing synthetic basketball and tennis courts
  • Nike Grind Upper Fabric is a mixed fiber (“fluff”) product created from athletic shoe textiles and leather uppers, which is then used as padding under hardwood basketball floors and as equestrian surfacing materials

Nike is the Official Supplier of High Performance Sporting Goods for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.