We are proud to announce that we recently rebranded our Footwear Recycling Program from ‘ASGA SOS Footwear Recycling Initiative’ to TreadLightly as we rolled out the program across Australia.
Since we rebranded our footwear recycling program from ‘ASGA SOS Footwear Recycling Initiative’ to TreadLightly in October, we have seen a 25% increase in recycling – which is great news.
As part of our launch, ASGA created a new look and feel for the program, website, social channels, as well as new consumer and member staff communications to drive greater awareness of the initiative. Please check out our new website and video here.
As we’ve continued to spread the word through traditional media, social and marketing, we’ve received great feedback from industry partners, retailers and consumers – and we’re looking forward to continuing momentum into 2022.
ASGA also carried out consumer research around the program, taking a deep dive into consumer habits around shoe hoarding and sustainability motives. Some of the key findings include:
- Nearly a quarter of people (24 per cent) keep onto their old shoes, with many people admitting it’s for a rainy day or for sentimental reasons
- Half of respondents (51 per cent) confess to simply throwing their unwanted shoes in the rubbish.
- More than half of Australians (57 per cent) are concerned about sending their shoes and clothes to landfill and bothered by products that can’t be recycled easily (54 per cent).
- Three out of four people (78 per cent) believe they could do more to reduce their environmental impact.
- Half of respondents (50 per cent) are more likely to purchase from brands with a focus on environmental sustainability.
- Women are more likely to keep shoes they don’t wear, holding onto an average of seven pairs of shoes they don’t use compared to men who keep three.
We’ve had great feedback on the new national program from the Federal Government, members, wider retail partners and consumers, and we’re looking forward to seeing TreadLightly continue to evolve and grow over the years ahead.
We now have 410 drop off points around Australia across 24 brands. If you aren’t one of our retail partners and you’d like to get involved, please get in touch.
ASGA remains strongly committed to building a long-term and sustainable footwear recycling solution that will benefit not only the sports and active lifestyle industry but more importantly the wider community.
Read the full press release around our latest research here.