The Running Bee Foundation has partnered with JogOn to give unwanted running shoes a second chance.
Health and wellbeing charity, The Running Bee Foundation is supporting the JogOn mission to remove 1 million pairs of running shoes from landfills where running shoes are reported to take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
18 billion pairs of running shoes are sold every single year and 33 million pairs are thrown into landfills every year. In addition, an estimated 3 million people suffer from foot-related diseases, mostly due to a lack of appropriate or any footwear at all.
Tony Piedade, CEO of JogOn, recognised the combined issues surrounding unwanted or unused running and training shoes and this year launched JogOn to help tackle the worldwide problem.
The JogOn team, based in West Sussex collect unwanted running shoes by post or dedicated drop-off points from their retail and industry partners. The shoes are then sorted, and prepared to be distributed. Shoes are then shared with its network of partners across 11 hubs in the world, including charities, NGO’s and groups from developing nations.
Founded by Sports Tours International which takes thousands of runners to events worldwide, The Running Bee Foundation champions active lifestyles. The Sports Tours International Family strongly believe in the benefits of the JogOn initiative and will be reaching out to its community of runners nationally and locally to help in the cause.
Steve Kenny, Foundation Lead said, ‘’We are proud to have teamed up with Tony and the JogOn team to support their mission. We have connections to many running communities nationally and locally and we will be sharing information through our channels on how they can support. Some of our staff are keen runners too so we will be encouraging them to donate unwanted shoes and donate them to a better and beneficial cause.’’
Tony Piedade commented, “I am delighted to have the support of The Running Bee Foundation on this incredible journey. What started out as a personal ambition, had matured into a national campaign with tremendous engagement. I am excited about what we can achieve together and I look forward, with the help of our partners, to reaching our target of removing 1m pairs of running shoes from landfill.”
The Running Bee Foundation’s North-west race events will have eco-friendly boxes present to collect unwanted shoes from runners at each event. Upcoming races include the Ron Hill Accrington 10K, We Love Our NHS Manchester 10K and SPAR City of Preston 10K.
To find out more visit www.jogonagain.com