Wynsors World of Shoes stores have been collecting worn out old shoes throughout the entirety of 2018, as part of a recycling drive that has been raising money for Cancer Research UK and Stockton residents have proven to be some of the most environmentally conscious.
Over the last year the value footwear retailer’s 45 locations have collected 12,033kg of old shoes, the equivalent in weight to a cruise ship anchor or 64 fully grown male lions, in an ongoing recycling initiative that has seen 10% of proceeds go to the charity.
Of that grand total, Stockton donated 309kg over the course of the year, seeing them land in the top ten locations that recycled the most.
Over the last six months, several of the stores upped the donation amount to 30% to encourage more customers to recycle, rather than bin, their unwanted shoes. This came after it was revealed that 27% of the population has five or more pairs of shoes that they never wear.
The shoe recycling drive was launched several years ago and has seen customers adopt a positive outlook on recycling after each Wynsors store set up ‘used shoe’ donation points to put old and unwanted shoes to better use.
Wynsors’ chosen charity, Cancer Research UK, is the world’s largest independent cancer research charity in the world. Their research is vital in making scientific progress and is almost entirely funded by the public, through donations, community fundraising and events.
Polly Williams, local fundraising manager at Cancer Research, said: “We are so grateful for the donations that we receive from Wynsors’ recycling initiative and the fact that they’re cutting down on waste in the process is just fantastic.
“The money we receive from donations goes towards conducting research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Donations are so important for a charity like ours to continue our work.”
Danny Bergin, Sales Manager at Wynsors World of Shoes, said: “We are so pleased with the uptake our shoe recycling initiative has seen this year and we cannot thank our customers enough for really getting on board and adopting positive habits when it comes to waste – even if it means bringing smelly old shoes out to our stores.
“We will continue to encourage good recycling habits in store and we hope to see an even greater response from our wonderful customers throughout 2019. We hope customers continue to use our recycling points and continue to de-cutter their homes with our help – it’s for a great cause after all.”