JogOn
2055. Tony Piedade
Tony Piedade, from Sussex, has encouraged runners in the UK to recycle 18,000 used but good-quality running shoes for people in 15 countries without access to new footwear through his ‘JogOn’ campaign.
Tony, who also runs a world-wide online running community called ‘JoggingBuddy.com’, launched the initiative last March after learning 33 million trainers end up in landfill every year, and how a pair of shoes can take an estimated one thousand years to degrade. Deciding to take action, he designed and launched the ‘JogOn’ website within one week.
Now with a network of 256 collection points across the country, donated shoes can be dropped off at a number of leisure centres, gyms, universities and retailers. For a set fee of £2, individuals in the UK can also post up to 30 pairs of unwanted shoes directly to Tony, who stores and sorts through all items, and sends shoes that cannot be reused as waste to an energy plant where they are incinerated to make electricity. Tony supports a range of UK and overseas charities and causes through the redistribution of the shoes. ear in Turkey who have lost homes and belongings. Tony hopes to save one million pairs of trainers from going to landfill and is investigating ways for end of life shoes to be completely recycled.
Tony said:
“It is a great honour to receive the Points of Light award and gives me great pride that ‘JogOn’ is being recognised in this way. Every year, millions of pairs of running shoes end up in landfill, some of which can take up to 1,000 years to degrade. Last year I set a goal to remove 1m pairs of running shoes from landfill. Our journey has only just started and it’s amazing to think that in just 12 months we have managed to process over 15,000 pairs of running shoes, most of which have been suitable enough to be reused, but more importantly, over 2 tonnes of footwear has now been diverted from a decades in a hole in the ground. But none of this would be possible without the real heroes, our partners and supporters; companies, organisations, retailers, leisure centres, gyms, running clubs, schools, libraries and the hundreds of individuals that take the time to collect, pack and send us their shoes. To them I say this, thank you!.. and please “Keep them coming!”
See more about ‘JogOn’
