Naperville Park District Helps Residents Recycle Gym Shoes and Holiday Lights

• Sameera Luthman, Director of Marketing and Communications, 630-848-3570, sluthman@napervilleparks.org
• Brock Atwell, Program Manager, 630-848-3534, batwell@napervilleparks.org

Date: March 27, 2013

Naperville Park District Helps Residents Recycle Gym Shoes and Holiday Lights
2013 collections keep nearly a ton of material out of the landfill

In a community like Naperville where many residents accumulate "stuff" that is no longer needed, the Naperville Park District’s Green Team offers convenient ways to recycle and reuse household items and benefit our environment.

Through the Park District’s third annual Holiday Lights Recycling Program, 1,392 pounds of old, nonworking holiday lights were collected from Nov. 19, 2012 through Feb. 15, 2013 in partnership with Elgin Recycling. The Park District designated three drop-off locations and Elgin Recycling provided large boxes for the lights, emptied the boxes when overflowing and paid the Park District a rebate of .15 cents per pound, for a total of $208.80. The Naperville Park District’s Green Team will use the $208.80 to fund additional environmental initiatives in 2013.

In another successful partnership, the Naperville Park District held its first Gym Shoe Collection at Players Indoor Sports Center, which hosts the District’s indoor soccer and lacrosse programs. Players made space for a large bin for the shoe collection which ran from Feb. 1 through March 3, 2013.

"We are grateful to Players Indoor Sports Center for their support of the Gym Shoe Collection," said Program Manager Brock Atwell. "As word got out about the collection, the bin began to overflow. We bagged the shoes each week and stored the overflow at the Park District to make room for more, and ended up collecting 22 large bags of shoes."

On Saturday, March 16, a group of volunteers sorted the shoes, counting 429 pairs and 14 single shoes with a total weight of 548 pounds. The clean, wearable shoes were separated for eventual donation to charity, while the unwearable shoes will go to Nike’s Reuse a Shoe program, which takes various materials from the shoes to make tennis courts, gym floors, track surfaces and playground surfaces.

The Park District will contribute the gym shoes to the larger, county-wide Gym Shoe Rescue led by SCARCE (School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education) in April and May. SCARCE will send the shoes either to charities or to the Nike Reuse a Shoe program. In 2012, SCARCE sent 10,621 shoes to Nike.

For more information about SCARCE or about how to donate shoes to the Gym Shoe Rescue, contact SCARCE at www.scarceecoed.org. To learn more about the Naperville Park District and its facilities and programs, please visit www.napervilleparks.org.


About the Naperville Park District: Created in 1966, the Naperville Park District is an independent municipal agency serving the recreation needs of its residents. An Illinois Distinguished Agency since 1994, the District is one of only 1 percent of park districts across the country to be nationally accredited through the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA). The Naperville Park District’s mission is to provide recreation and park experiences that enhance the quality of life for our community, including benefits such as community health, environmental education, social connections and personal growth. The District maintains and operates more than 2,500 acres with 140 parks and facilities and provides more than 1,400 recreational, arts and environmental programs and special events annually. Included within the District’s operations are two championship golf courses, a multitude of playgrounds, trails, athletic courts and sports fields, two inline skating and skateboarding facilities, the Millennium Carillon, a paddle boat quarry, historic Centennial Beach and the beautiful Riverwalk.