Shoes are an accessory too pretty to resist but far too dispensable for the most part. For some, these basic commodities are a luxury but others live with the reality that the number of shoes thrown away every year are 15 times more than the number of shoes produced annually. This level of waste is having huge repercussions on the environment and that’s where this Indian company steps in to curb the shoe wastage pandemic.
Greensole is an organisation founded by professional athlete duo Shriyans Bhandari and Ramesh Dhami, and it focuses on reprimanding the growing rates of wastage. They recycle and refurbish old and disposed shoes into funkier and newer avatars. This initiative gets even better; these newly refurbished shoes are being donated to school children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The project is open to anyone and everyone who wishes to contribute. If you have shoes that don’t fit or that you just don’t find cute anymore, you can donate them to Greensole, after which they’d be transformed into a new pair of shoes for a child in need. The project began fours years ago and today, the organisation is currently in partnership with 17 corporations who are in full support of the initiative. They’re aren’t short of international recognition either - having received praise and the thumbs-up from personalities like Ratan Tata and Barack Obama.
The company also conducts their own drives across India, where they come to you; they collect and donate shoes by setting up drop boxes and collaborating with schools and colleges. As their drives pick up more publicity, Greensole is on its way to making the world a more accessible and eco-friendly place, one refurbished shoe at a time.
You can check out their amazing work on their website.
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