COAST CITIES — Residents in California can be part of Soles4Souls, an international shoe charity, and its Turn Up The Sole campaign in partnership with Keep California Beautiful and 1-800-GOT-JUNK?. The charity’s recycling initiative is asking residents to recycle their new or gently worn shoes.Keep California Beautiful and 1-800-GOT-JUNK? are collecting shoes throughout the whole state of California until Aug. 15 in order to donate them to Soles4Souls, the shoe charity.
From June 15 through Aug. 15, to receive collection materials, including a collection bin and brochures, sign up at soles4souls.org. Choose “Turn Up the Sole” in the pull down menu, enter your ZIP code in the locator and find out if you are eligible for a pickup of shoes from 1-800-GOT-JUNK?.
To receive a pickup, you must:
— Tie each pair of shoes together with a rubber band or by its shoelaces
— Place all shoes inside of large garbage bags. No more than 30 pairs per bag
— E-mail your closest 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchise to arrange a pick-up. Minimum of 100 pairs collected to be eligible
— Donor must provide help to load shoes onto 1-800-GOT-JUNK? truck
If you are collecting shoes at an event, please be sure to invite the franchise out. They may be able to join in on the fun and use the junk truck for the collection bin.
“Since Soles4Souls accept all types of shoes: athletic, running, dress, sandals, pumps, heels, work boots, cleats, dance, flip flops, that are new or gently worn; there is a fantastic option for all Californians to take part in the reuse program which reduces the strain on our local environment and conserves natural resources,” said Christine Flowers, executive director of Keep California Beautiful.
“Soles4Souls hopes to prevent shoes from ending up in landfills by finding a home for them elsewhere,” said Kevin Goughary, of Soles4Souls. “Our friends at Keep California Beautiful set the precedent by teaching the public about the reuse and recycle movement, and now it’s time to remind them of how recycling your old shoes can drastically improve someone’s life.”
“Donating viable items is the number one way 1-800-GOT-JUNK? keeps items from entering the waste stream. By partnering with Soles4Souls we are able to commit not only to our charitable goals but to our environmental sustainability goals as well,” said Natalie Burgwin of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
