Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell
Sneaker Impact’s Miami location with shoes piled up – credit Sneaker Impact

 

Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network.

Unique Miami Recycling Company Gives Discarded Shoes New Traction

By Andy Corbley –

In Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood, a local business sorts through thousands of donated sneakers to decide the best way to keep them out of landfills.

Whether pristine or worn out, each pair will have a future either as recycled material or with a new owner who will appreciate and continue to use them.

Sneaker Impact was founded by a man seeking a more environmentally friendly way to do business, and second-hand shoes is a good gig—the only competition is the landfill. Americans will own an average of 250 pairs of shoes in a lifetime, and that is unfortunately where many will end up.

“It’s all about accountability, sending the right product to the right market,” Sneaker Impact founder and CEO Moe Hachem told CBS News. “Sneakers are a necessity in the developing world. They are a form of transportation.”

Sneaker Impact receives around 1 million pairs of shoes annually through volunteer partners like running clubs, meaning that the cost to secure raw materials is virtually reduced to the labor of retrieving and sorting them.

Once in the Little Haiti facility, they are grouped together according to various criteria and stuffed into bags in orders of 200 to be sent around the world for resale.

“You’re not only reducing waste here at home, you are creating microbusiness opportunities in a developing country,” Hachem said.

Those that are condemned are shredded and sorted into foam and fabric, which are then sold as raw materials where they could be used to make carpet mats, floor mats, etc.

Sneaker Impact sells a gym sandal that’s made of 85% sneaker foam, a durable, flexible, and weather-resistant material that seems fragile because of the intense job it’s asked to do: namely, pound the pavement for hours at a time every week.

Watch the story here.

The good news is that waste is turned into useful products for those less fortunate. Today’s JohnKu talks about recycling. I hope you have a grand weekend.

Need by John W. Howell © 2025

Matching need with waste,

Is a form of useful grace. . .

Bless those who do it.

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Published by John W. Howell

I have been working in business for over forty years and now have the time to work in special areas of interest. My passion has always been to create compelling stories of fiction. I have authored six novels and am working on my Seventh. The first novel is still in manuscript form and being utilized as a door stop in the laundry room. The second is a contemporary fiction novel of 89,000 words and is complete and I am currently seeking a publisher. I also write poetry but have not had the guts to share any with anyone. The one time I read a piece to a person their only comment was, “it doesn’t rhyme.” I will continue to write and hopefully my blog, Fiction Favorites at www.johnwhowell.com will provide some entertainment and an interesting thought or two. I live in the Austin area with my wife Molly and an assortment of loving pets.

58 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  1. Dear John
    What a great idea.
    We often wonder why we frequently find single shoes on the beach. They get collected, but we have no idea where they end up.
    Wishing you a wonderful weekend
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  3. With our technologies, most all our waste could be used and/or reused for something. This group needs to be commended!

    Like

  5. While on mission trips, I saw how the local needs often exceeded the means of fulfillment. Thanks, John, for highlighting one clever solution. I marveled at how this out-of-the-shoe-box approach helps satisfy those needs.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. This got me thinking about how many pairs of shoes I’ve had that have been tossed…not many. As kid all my new shoes were handed down to my sisters and only tossed when they were falling apart. As an adult…I’ve still got shoes from decades ago. I wear them until they fall apart. Last year I threw out a twenty year + old pair of Keds sneakers. They had holes where my big toe fit, and the soles were so worn I could see the inside sole. I was amazed at how well the color still held up after all those years of wear. I’m glad many pairs of used sneakers are finding new life and being reused and repurposed.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. I love when people come up with new ideas to relieve our waste output! Thanks for more good news, John 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  14. “Useful grace” – beautifully written, John. How wonderful that this effort is serving others. Thank you for sharing. 🌞

    Liked by 1 person

  15. I wear my sports shoes for years, John, until they are toast! But youngsters change those shoes not only fro foot growoh but also for fashion. So this in one terrific contribution. Plus there are so many poor people not only in the US but around the world that need shoes! Bravo!

    Liked by 1 person

  19. As someone who wears his sneakers until they are thoroughly trashed, it’s hard for me to wrap my brain around the condition of some of the sneakers that are being tossed. I especially like the idea of getting shoes to developing countries, which wouldn’t have access otherwise.

    Liked by 1 person

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