| Global warming is a topic very much in vogue at the | | | | Grind Rubber, Nike Grind Foam and Nike Grind Upper. |
| moment. A former American Vice-President won a | | | | Sports surfacing companies incorporate the grind into |
| Nobel Prize for making a documentary on the | | | | their product ranges and produce quality running |
| subject. Studies from all over the world are producing | | | | tracks, tennis courts, soccer fields and safe |
| terrifying statistics and proving that due to our | | | | playground surfaces. One of the goals of the Let Me |
| carelessness and negligence, we are fast approaching | | | | Play initiative, and an upshot of surfacing sports |
| a bleak and unstable future. Scientists who've been | | | | facilities, is maximising the power of sport to change |
| warning world leaders of the consequences of carbon | | | | the lives of young people. They also hope to |
| emissions and deforestation for years are sitting back | | | | contribute towards the creation of cohesive |
| with concerned I-told-you-so expressions on their | | | | communities and positive social change. |
| faces. | | | | How many shoes does it take to make a tennis |
| The point of no return is almost upon us, but there's | | | | court? Not your common, everyday question, is it? |
| still time for action. Recycling is one of the most | | | | On average a surface comprises of 10-20% of the |
| important things that we as individuals can do and if | | | | grind according to weight. A tennis court generally |
| you think that there are some things that simply | | | | uses 2500 pairs of shoes. Full soccer pitches and |
| can't be recycled, think again. Dirty old run down | | | | running tracks use about 75,000 pairs of shoes. Most |
| shoes, that you would prefer to never see the light | | | | of the other facilities surfaced use 2500 pairs. As can |
| of day again, can be recycled and used for the | | | | be seen from the figures, the Reuse-a-Shoe |
| betterment of sports facilities in ways you never | | | | programme is a very effective shoe recycling |
| dreamed of. | | | | method. |
| In an ingenious commitment to sustainability and a | | | | Nike has a huge influence in the world of sport. They |
| determination to stop the waste of salvageable | | | | sponsor any number of athletes, most notably Tiger |
| materials, Nike created the Reuse-a Shoe programme. | | | | Woods and Roger Federer, and many major sporting |
| The programme began in 1993 and so far over 20 | | | | events. They have received a lot of flak for the |
| million pairs of athletic shoes have been recycled and | | | | large sums of money they spend on their |
| used in over 250 sport surfaces. The surfacing of | | | | representatives, while their laborers in India work in |
| sports grounds is part of the Let Me Play initiative, | | | | sweatshop conditions for a pitiful wage. But it seems |
| Nike's international community investment programme. | | | | they are determined to make up for any |
| In the spirit of environmental responsibility, they not | | | | shortcomings as a company by doing what they can |
| only recycle shoes that have been handed in, but | | | | for the environment and the upliftment of |
| they also recycle the material left over from the | | | | communities. Notoriously influential and powerful, they |
| shoe manufacturing process. The shoes and left-over | | | | are now an example to other major companies as |
| material is ground up and purified into a substance | | | | leaders in meeting their recycling responsibilities. |
| called "Nike Grind". Nike grind then becomes Nike | | | | |