“Shoes used to be 11% of all the stock we collected, 270–280 tonnes a year,” he says. “If an item is not good enough for the shops, it goes to the recycling companies, who grade them,” says Baladron. Recycling companies sort rejected donations by style, climate, cultural suitability and quality. Photograph: Kellie French/The Guardian, assisted by Harry BrayneOutside the warehouse sit huge, bulging white plastic sacks with “single shoes” scrawled on the side in marker pen. These white sacks are collected by businesses that have a sideline processing single shoes.

Source: The Guardian March 21, 2020 12:01 UTC