Sept. 16, 2010

ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Oakland University men's and women's cross country teams have paired up with Nike in the Reuse-A-Shoe campaign. This is an innovative concept in which old athletic shoes are turned into materials used to make running tracks among other items. The program, which started in 1990, has recycled over 25 million shoes.

"This was a perfect fit, partnering with Nike on this project," said head coach Paul Rice. "Nike has been good to us over the years and we wanted to be part of something that will give back to the community as well as help the environment. I commend my administrative assistant, Kara Coraci for coming up with this idea and making it happen. Our athletes really embraced it and I appreciate the energy they have put into it."

The cross country teams got together and created three drop-off boxes. There is a box at the front entrance of the Recreation Center and one at each of the two main entrances at the Oakland Center. The drive will run from Sept. 13 until Oct. 14.

The process begins by dropping your old athletic shoes off at a Nike Reuse-A-Shoe recycling location. When enough shoes have been collected, Nike ships them to one of their processing centers - located in Meerhout, Belgium and Memphis, Tennessee.

At the centers, the shoes as well as other materials such as manufacturing scraps and shoes with manufacturing flaws, are sorted into three types of raw materials. These materials, rubber from the outsole, foam from the midsole and fabric fibers from the upper, are called Nike Grind.

The Nike Grind is then used to create running tracks, provide filler for synthetic soccer and football field and impact-absorbing surfacing for playground areas among other uses.

For more information, please go to http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/

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