JJB Sports has linked up with 4 x Olympic gold-medal winner Matthew Pinsent to launch its trainer recycling initiative. The scheme, the first of its kind in the UK, encourages people of all ages to recycle unwanted sports shoes in return for a £5 discount voucher. Alongside Matthew Pinsent, footballing superstars Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Mikel Arteta (Everton) and Shay Given (Manchester City) have also donated their unwanted boots to help promote the scheme.
Matthew Pinsent visited JJB’s Slough store this morning to kick off the scheme, donating the trainers he wore while training for the 2006 marathon. JJB estimates that if all the unwanted trainers & sports shoes that are currently lying around British homes were recycled via this scheme it could save Brits a staggering £283,475,000, as well as saving around 59 million pairs from going to landfill.
With the average pair of trainers in JJB sports costing £29, the £5 money-off voucher consumers will receive in exchange for their old shoes represents an average 17% off the price of a new pair. All profits that JJB makes from the sale of the unwanted shoes for re-use or recycling purposes will be passed onto the company’s charity partner, Whizz-Kidz.
Speaking about the scheme Matthew Pinsent remarked, “As soon as I heard about JJB’s scheme I knew it was something I wanted to get involved in. Just taking a quick look around my house revealed huge numbers of unwanted sports shoes that we had lying around, taking up valuable cupboard space. Being able to dispose of them in an environmentally friendly way, for a financial incentive, and also knowing that I’m helping raise invaluable funds for Whizz-Kidz at the same time – well, it couldn’t really tick any more boxes if it tried!”
For more information on the new JJB sports footwear scheme please visit www.jjbsports.com