We buy a lot of shoes—enough to fill more than a few closets. It’s estimated that 20 billion pairs of shoes are produced annually, and unfortunately, roughly 300 million pairs are thrown away each year, too.

Like clothing waste, shoe waste occurs entirely too much and is 100% avoidable. The shoe manufacturing process is chemical-intensive process. Ethylene Vinyl Acetate, a material commonly found in the midsole of running shoes, can last for as long as 1,000 years in a landfill. When considering the sheer volume of shoe waste, it’s environmentally irresponsible to toss shoes in a landfill where they’ll impact the planet for centuries.

Reuse

Shoes, like clothing, need not be thrown away regardless of what condition they are in. Many shoe consumers, especially competitive runners, have no use for shoes once the sole begins to wear down, but just because a shoe is no longer fit for marathon running doesn’t mean it can’t be worn for regular, everyday use. Shoe reuse programs exist in most areas, like Re-Use Your Shoes, a shoe drop-box program in Pennsylvania, or of course, USAgain collection programs across the U.S.

Reccling

Even the so-called “worst of the worst,” the shoes that are worn so badly that they no longer resemble shoes, can have a second life. Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe initiative is a solution to responsibly disposing of such shoes. Nike uses large-scale shoe drives and localized drop-offs to collect shoes and send them to facilities in Tennessee and Belgium, where, as Nike says, they are put “back into the game.” These facilities specialize in recycling old shoes into surfacing material for playgrounds indoor tracks. Yes, it’s entirely possible that your old track shoes will be reincarnated in the form of an actual track.

REI says that as a rule of thumb, a pair of walking or running shoes can last for up to 500 miles. Of course, competitive athletes go through shoes much more quickly than this, which is understandable, but it is unacceptable to trash a pair of shoes even if you’re a world-class runner who can afford a thousand pairs.

Given the running community’s propensity for going through shoes, we at USAgain have decided it’s essential to show runners the importance of recycling their shoes. To achieve this, we’ve partnered with Warrior Dash to recycle shoes at their 2013 races in the contiguous U.S. We’ve collected thousands of pounds of shoes so far and are looking forward to collecting more—even the dirtiest, muddiest pairs.

We can’t fix the problem of shoe waste single-handedly. Next time you look at your closet full of shoes, don’t view the old ones as trash; give them a second life on someone else’s feet or as a running track surface, but don’t let them become a statistic. The 300 million pairs of shoes thrown away annually don’t need company.

According to a recent Los Angeles Times story, the total cost of attending prom is $1,139 on average, as much as an international flight or a brand new MacBook Air laptop. Your own prom experience may have been an expensive one, but even if you are only a few years removed from high school, $1,139 is a significant increase: it’s 40% more than the average of $807 in 2011.

For many prom-goers, the priciest part of the evening is the dress. It’s surprisingly common for a high school girl to spend well over $400 dollars for a prom dress, something she’s only likely to wear one time. The result is two different burdens: the financial burden of the prom attendee, of course, and the environmental impact of producing the dress.

Common materials for prom dresses include silk, organza and satin, all of which require chemically-intensive manufacturing processes and transportation across seas, as they are mainly produced in Asia. Like every article of clothing, a prom dress has an environmental footprint, and it’s quite a large one.

At USAgain, clothing and textile reuse and recycling is what we do best. We also thrive to be connected to the communities in which we operate, so we’re aware of the financial burden that prom presents for a high school girl. We put one and one together and realized we had a solution to the high-cost, environmentally unfriendly dilemma that prom presents: Prom Goes Green. Here’s our official Prom Goes Green Video.

Going to prom is expensive, no doubt, and considering the nature of today’s economy, shelling out four figures for a one-day event is unrealistic for many students and families. On average, teens cover 41% of their prom costs, which adds up to weeks or months of after-school or summer work for one night.

Used clothing, in many cases, is just as good as new stuff, and for the Earth, it’s much-preferred. Every time one t-shirt is reused, 7 pounds of carbon dioxide is prevented from entering the atmosphere. Producing a prom dress is far more environmentally detrimental than a t-shirt, making every reused prom dress an important step toward maintaining Earth’s inhabitability.

Sometimes, a financially-draining event like prom is also hard on the environment. If you’re still planning this year’s prom or looking ahead to next year, we urge you to look at the eco-friendly option of wearing a used dress or even making your own from extra fabric lying around your home. You’ll find that it’s an eco-friendly choice, too.

Plastics are commonly known to be recyclable as well, but they’re a little trickier. Plastics like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) contain a “1” within the recycling symbol—these are widely accepted for curbside recycling. Polyvinyl chloride, the plastic labeled with “3,” is not accepted everywhere.

The biggest misconception in recycling is that recyclability stops at the curb with plastics. A wide range of other items, from motor oil to cigarette butts, are also recyclable, albeit not via curbside pickup. We’ve compiled a guide on how to recycle items that generally are not thought of to be recyclable. In most cases, it takes some extra effort, but if we’re concerned about the inhabitability of our planet (HINT: we should be!), the effort is well worth it.

Batteries

Battery waste in the U.S. adds up to about 180,000 tons annually. Single-use batteries are the most problematic in terms of hazardous materials, which means they must be dropped off at a household hazardous waste facility (a quick web search will yield results of a HHW facility near you).

Rechargeable batteries are considerable easier to recycle, as retailers such as Radio Shack and Lowes collect rechargeable batteries to recycle. Call2recycle.com has a nice locator tool for finding a battery recycler near you.

Corks

Yes, the cork from your favorite bottle of wine is recyclable, usually through a drop-off program at a food or beverage retailer. Cork is sustainably grown from cork trees—as the bark is stripped off, the tree is not harmed—so it really makes no sense to throw a cork in the trash can. Visit ReCork.org to learn more about the process and find a cork recycling center in your area.

Mattresses

Mattresses are usually comprised of foam, cotton, wood and metal, and most of them are in fact recyclable. Earth911.com says 40 million mattresses are disposed of every year in the U.S, which is alarming considering the sheer amount of space a mattress occupies in a landfill. Keep mattress waste out of landfills by using Earth911’s Recycling Locator to find a mattress recycling location in your vicinity.

Packing Peanuts

Packing peanuts are made of expanded polystyrene, so they fall into plastic category #6. Unfortunately, #6 plastics are not widely accepted by curbside recycling programs, and while regional collection centers do exist, the best option for packing peanut disposal is reuse. That’s right: your best bet is to reuse them next time you send a package.

The easiest way to recycle is still the curbside bin, but the items that can’t go in the bin are often still recyclable in a convenient manner. Browse through Earth911’s recycling resources for a how-to on recycling other items that get mistakenly tossed in the trash.

Of course, don’t forget to recycle and reuse your surplus clothing and textiles along with these items. Here’s a quick reminder of what can be placed in a USAgain collection bin. It might be more than you think!

Know a way to recycle a commonly trashed item? Leave us a comment!

Image via Flickr by mikecogh

Fundraising for schools and field trips is a useful way to bring in money and introduce students to civic involvement. Unfortunately, some of the most common school fundraisers – like selling wrapping paper and bake sales – aren’t eco-friendly.

There’s good news, though – it’s actually quite easy to raise money for your school without lowering environmental standards. In fact, there are plenty of easy ways to organize a school fundraiser that actually benefits environment.

Recycling:

Electronics: Building a fundraiser around recycling is great because it usually costs nothing. Household electronics are among the most commonly thrown away items that are easily recyclable. Organizations like Cartridges for Kids pay schools for recycling cell phones, printer cartridges, laptops, MP3 players and other unwanted electronics.

Packaging Waste: Terracycle allows schools to raise funds by collecting items like juice pouches and candy wrappers to be recycled. Such items aren’t commonly accepted by curbside recycling programs and are prevalent in schools, so it makes all the sense in the world to responsibly dispose of them AND raise money at the same time.

Clothing and Shoes: USAgain’s Greenraiser is a viable way for schools to raise money by collecting surplus clothes and shoes to be recycled. Once a school signs up on the USAgain website, a bin is placed and the school receives a quarterly check from USAgain. According to the EPA, 11.1 million tons of textiles are thrown away every year, and every pound of cotton diverted from landfills prevents the emission of 7 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Combine those statistics with the ability to raise money for schools and it’s no wonder over 550 schools nationwide participate in our Earth Month Challenge, an Earth Month-inspired twist on the Greenraiser where cash prizes are rewarded to the top recycling schools in the month of April.

All of these recycling fundraisers can become a fun competition with some minor tweaks. Classrooms or grade levels can compete against each other for who can recycle the most, with an eco-friendly prize as a reward.

Walk-a-thons:

A walk-a-thon is another way to raise funds without burdening the environment. Provided there are willing sponsors, a walk-a-thon is a useful green fundraising option that promotes physical activity. Because of the low-intensity nature of a walk-a-thon, a wide range of people are encouraged to participate. Bowl-a-thons and sporting marathons – like a continuous soccer game with rotating participants – also work to raise funds in a green way. Also, consider selling t-shirts made from recycled materials at fundraiser such as a walk-a-thon or recycling drive.

Trees

The old cliché about money growing on trees isn’t true, unfortunately, but planting trees to raise funds is a viable option for a green fundraiser. One way to do it is through an adopt-a-tree event. To do this, contact an organization that sells tree seedlings and inform them of your fundraiser; you’re likely to get seedlings at a discount if they’ll be used in a school fundraiser, or perhaps even free of charge. Once seedlings are secured you’ll want to reach out to parents and local businesses to find adopters, or people interested in sponsoring tree planting. For example, for $75 a tree will be sponsored by a local business, and a plaque or certificate will be given to the owner to proudly show patrons the business’ commitment to education and the environment.

Environmental education should be a goal for all schools – elementary, middle and high schools and colleges, too. What better way to educate students on the environment than to raise cash in the process? We at USAgain are all about going green to raise green.

Leave us a comment with ideas and ways your school has raised money via environmentally friendly fundraising!

Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator representing Wisconsin, was troubled by the devastation of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, CA. The Santa Barbara spill hemorrhaged 200,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific and cost the lives of over 3,600 seabirds. The problem lied in the “cutting corners” mentality that was encouraged by the U.S. Geological Survey. To summarize the USGS ideology and policies of the era, oil companies and other enterprises were allowed to operate at standards that were unsafe in an effort to save money.

Nelson was familiar with the anti-war movement of the ‘60s and realized a similar movement was necessary if environmental reform was ever to come. He recruited a few other Congressmen and assembled a national staff in preparation for what would be America’s first Earth Day, held on April 22, 1970. That day, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks and universities to voice the need for pro-environmental action and legislation. It’s been history ever since.

Earth Day Timeline

• April 22, 1970: First Earth Day is celebrated in U.S.
• December 1970: Congress authorizes creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, a federal agency to deal with environmental issues.
• April 1990: Earth Day goes international as 141 countries celebrate.
• April 1995: Gaylord Nelson pitches the idea of “Earth Week” for schools and communities, with the goal of grassroots environmental education.
• April 2010: EarthDay.org is created to serve as an online action center for Earth Day participants worldwide.

The beauty of Earth Day is its inclusionary spirit; it is both a large scale call to action for governments and nations and a small scale campaign for schools, communities and individual people to do things like recycle more and reduce water and electricity consumption at home. It’s also a call to action for businesses.

What’s USAgain doing?

As a green business, participating in Earth Day and Earth Month events is a must for USAgain. We recently held Prom Goes Green, a giveaway of prom dresses to high school girls in the Chicago area. The dresses, all in gently used or like-new condition, were given to students, and with them, the message of reusing and recycling clothing instead of letting it go to waste. You can see our official recap video of the event here.  Our Chicago division is also partnering with Agassiz Elementary School to go green, as we’ll lend a hand at their “Clean Out Your Closet” event this week.

We’re also in the process of our annual Earth Month Challenge, a recycling drive where schools across the country compete to recycle clothing and textiles, with five cash prizes awarded at the end of April. See the Earth Month Challenge page and see the standings here – they’re updated daily.

Several of our divisions are observing Earth Day by planting trees. USAgain St. Louis is planting in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis - the planting will commence this Friday, April 19. We’re also planting seedlings at the Tappmeyer House, a historic site in Creve Couer, MO, on April 26. USAgain Minneapolis is also donating trees to be planted next month in cooperation with the Trees for St. Paul program.

We’re excited for Earth Day 2013 and thrilled to contribute to the Earth Day mission on both local and national levels. Drop us a line and tell us what you’re doing to celebrate Earth Day!

Image via Flickr, by go_greener_oz

Ah, spring. For those of us in the Midwest, it feels like it’s taking a bit too long to arrive, but when it finally does, many of us will head to our closets armed with a plastic bag and intentions of getting rid of everything we don’t need.

Spring cleaning isn’t the most enjoyable part of spring, but it’s something we all have to do, unless you like holding on to items you no longer need. What’s the eco-friendly protocol for spring cleaning, though?

Be responsible with electronics

An old printer cartridge or obsolete cell phone might feel small in the palm of your hand, but its environmental impact is nothing short of huge. According to eWaste Center, many electronic devices contain dangerous levels of toxic materials such as lead, barium, cadmium, and mercury, which are all threats to human health and the Earth. To keep e-waste from harming the environment, Planet Green Recycle is collection these items for recycling. The best part? They’re giving cash payouts to charities for recycling

Participants are paid the cash value of every item they send in to Planet Green Recycle, and three recyclers will be selected to receive a cash prize of $250. Learn more about the program here.

Give your clothes a second life

Your biggest spring cleaning task may very well be getting rid of clothes you no longer need. As you bag up old clothing and household textiles, remember that ALL textile items are recyclable or reusable as long as they’re not wet. Keep this in mind when you decide what to do with your unwanted clothing, and when you make a decision, choose a responsible method of disposal, whether it be a charitable donation, a USAgain collection bin, or a friend who could use it.

Recycle in every room

Most homes have a recycling bin or bag in the kitchen beside the trash, but why not recycle in all rooms? It might seem crazy, but people are more likely to recycle if a recycling receptacle is nearby. Use a small container for recycling in the bedroom, bathroom, family room, and anywhere else you normally keep a small trash can. Also, when shopping for personal hygiene items, go for products packaged in recyclable material—that way you can get some use out of your tiny recycling bin.

Spring cleaning might be tedious if you’re not a professional cleaner, but don’t use that as an excuse to disregard the environment. Follow our tips on your way to spring greening this year!

Image courtesy of Flickr, by IntelFreePress

Recycling is necessary if we’re to preserve our planet, but when recycling becomes a hassle, many people say, “forget it.” For example, cigarette butts are recyclable, and although the process is fairly simple (collect cigarettes, seal them in proper packaging, and ship to TerraCycle), the vast majority of smokers don’t bother to recycle their butts.

At USAgain, we’ve always maintained that convenience is king in the recycling industry. While some are willing, most people won’t go through the process of shipping materials to be recycled or driving more than a few miles out of their way to drop off recyclables. We, members of the recycling industry, shouldn’t give up on trying to change people’s recycling behaviors, but we need to supplement it with accessibility. In other words, we need to make recycling the obvious choice because it’s easy.

There’s no easier way to recycle than curbside recycling pickup. Most urban and suburban areas offer curbside pickup, but not all programs are created equally. Let’s look at some of the best curbside recycling cities.

Fresno, CA

Fresno isn’t the largest city on this list, but it packs a punch in terms of recycling rates. Many cities recycle about 30-50% of waste, but Fresno manages to divert an impressive 73% of trash from landfills. The city does this, in part, by reaching out to students and preaching the importance of recycling in schools, in hopes that the students will go home and educate their parents on recycling. Fresno has its sights set on the goal of 90% of trash diverted from landfills, which is well in reach for this eco-friendly city.

Austin, TX

Like many cities, Austin uses single stream recycling. Single stream requires no sorting, as residents are able to recycle paper, glass, metals and plastic all in one recycling cart. What sets Austin apart, though, is their recent introduction of curbside composting to select neighborhoods. Starting in January, 7,800 Austin residences have been using 96-gallon carts to compost organic material for weekly pickup.

San Francisco, CA

SFRecycles.org’s headline boasts: “In San Francisco you can now recycle just about everything.” Like Austin, San Fran offers curbside compost pickup in addition to regular recycling services, as well as free pickup for any items that are too large for regular pickup. The city also has a comprehensive guide to disposing of toxic materials, including the useful Recycle Where? tool for finding places that take toxic waste.

Portland, OR

Popular Science lists Portland as the greenest city in the U.S, and with good reason. Portland offers recycling programs similar to the other cities on this list, but we’re highlighting Oregon’s largest city for its illegal dumping hotline. Residents are encouraged to call the hotline and report illegal dumping, as well as report “freelance” trash haulers who pick up trash and dump it illegally. This goes a long way toward keeping Portland clean and holding individuals responsible for illegal behavior.

Keeping cities green isn’t possible without cooperation from residents, and these cities are doing a fine job making it convenient for their people. Drop us a line with a comment on your municipality’s recycling programs – we’d love to hear what cities across the country (and world) are doing to go green.

Cutting down on packaging isn’t the only way to give green – there are plenty of gift options available that reduce carbon footprint and lessen the burden on the environment. Here we’ll take a look at a variety of green birthday gift-giving options.

Record Center Coasters

These coasters, priced at $18 for a set of 6 by Uncommon Goods, are a green alternative to buying mass produced coasters. A lot of folks have a box full of old records lying around and collecting dust, waiting to be thrown out. Instead of sending old LPs to a landfill, Uncommon Goods turns them into cool-looking, vintage coasters. If you have a friend with eccentric taste in music, a set of coasters from their favorite artist’s albums could make for a fun DIY project that will be cherished longer than generic, store-bought coasters.

Chi-qoo Solar Power Pack Kit

Have a tech junkie in your life? Just about everyone these days has a smartphone in their purse or pocket. The Chi-qoo Solar Power Pack Kit is an innovative device designed to charge any and USB-supported device with the sun’s energy. The pack is equipped with a 5W monocrystalline solar panel and is enclosed in bamboo, and is capable of fully charging an iPhone in two hours.

Earthopoly Board Game

Earthopoly is an eco-friendly twist on Monopoly, created by board game company Late for the Sky. Geared toward children, the game teaches players about the environment by issuing carbon credits and having players trade for clean air, while passing “Go Green” each time around the board. The game’s paper components are recyclable and the ink is vegetable oil-based, and all game pieces are made from natural materials.

Eco-friendly Gift Wrapping

Wrapping paper is a huge source of waste – it usually gets throw away after a gift recipient tears it to shreds and winds up in a landfill. An eco-friendly and aesthetically pleasing alternative to wrapping paper is using fabric as gift wrap, or as the Japanese call it, Furoshiki. Any fabric large enough to cover the gift’s surface area can work as gift wrap, and although it takes some practice, everyone at the party will be wowed that you managed to wrap a gift with your no-longer-used floral print bed sheet. For a comprehensive guide on fabric gift wrapping, read here.

At USAgain, we readily accept all surplus textiles for recycling and reuse. We encourage sustainable practices such as fabric gift wrapping as well; the way we see it, the more textiles diverted from landfills, the better, regardless of how the diversion takes place.

Reducing waste in every way possible is necessary if we’re to ensure the sustainability of our planet. Next time you go shopping or embark on a DIY gift project, ask yourself, “Is there a green gift I could give?” There’s a good chance there is!

Share your eco-friendly gift ideas in the comments section below!

The festival attracts around 30,000 attendees annually. There are numerous green events at the fest, but one especially worth noting is the Metro Bus Painting.

Starting around 1:30, festival attendees will be able to grab some paint and turn a St. Louis city bus into a work of art. Paint will be supplied to attendees, and the event is sponsored by USAgain. We’re proud to be a silver sponsor at the 2013 St. Louis Earth Day Festival.

The metro bus to be painted will service the St. Louis area for a year. In past years, the metro bus painting has been done at the Green Homes / Great Health festival – check out the 2011 bus, one of our favorites. Other examples can be seen here. We’re excited to sponsor the first metro bus painting at the St. Louis Earth Day Fest.

USAgain is thrilled to contribute to the St. Louis Earth Day Festival and connect with the local community. We aren’t just sponsoring the Metro Bus Painting — we’re also doing what we do best: collecting surplus shoes and textiles for recycling and reuse. This will be taking place at the Recycling Extravaganza.

We encourage all to connect with USAgain by visiting one of our information booths at the fest. We’ll be on the Covered Walkway and in the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” Neighborhood. Our collection bin will be on Sponsor Row and our virtual information booth will be in the Transportation neighborhood, near the bus.

USAgain’s St. Louis division recycled nearly 6 million pounds of textiles in 2012, and while that’s a significant amount, we won’t be satisfied until all textiles are diverted from landfills. By spreading awareness of textile recycling at the festival, we hope to increase that number by a few million!

Whether you’ve been to every St. Louis Earth Day Festival or 2013 is your first time, check out the Metro Bus Painting event, and don’t forget to bring clothing and shoes to recycle. The Earth Day Festival is St. Louis’ environmental party of the year—come out and party with us!