SINGAPORE — You could soon be running on your old sports shoes.

Material science company Dow and national sports agency Sport Singapore (SportSG) announced on Friday (Sept 25) a plan to recycle 300,000 pairs of used sports shoes by using them to build jogging tracks, fitness corners and playgrounds.

The project — named “Others see an old shoe. We see the future” — will be launched on Saturday, which coincides with World Environmental Health Day, and carried out over the next three years.

Dow and SportSG claimed that it is the “first of its kind” in Asia Pacific.

Members of the public may drop off their used sports shoes at any of its 30 collection points across Singapore, including participating ActiveSG sport centres and stadiums, Decathlon stores, JD Sports stores and more than 30 schools.

The collection drive will end on Nov 30.

The rubberised soles and midsoles of the shoes will be ground up into rubber granules that are used as materials to build sports infrastructure, partially replacing recycled tires.

These granules are bound together using water-based and solvent-free binder technology, creating a more “environmentally friendly and safer sports infrastructure”, Dow and SportSG said in a press release.

Materials made using this technology were tested at the new Kallang Football Hub early this year, with a 200sqm area of the jogging track made using recycled sports shoes.

Mr Lim Teck Yin, chief executive officer of SportSG, said: “This project demonstrates how we can all play a meaningful part in workable real-world solutions that champion sustainability in our fields of endeavour.”

Mr Jon Penrice, Dow’s president for Asia Pacific, said: “As we move away from a make-use-dispose society into one where circularity becomes ever more relevant today, collaborating with partners across the value chain such as Sport Singapore and the community is critical.

“We all have a role to play if we want a better outcome for the environment.”