Two pairs of shoes slung over a telephone wire in LeedsWe’ve had an email from John K:

I wonder could you help me with an issue I have with disposing of old footwear. I know there are some programs that accept old footwear and the different parts are separated and some are recycled as astro turf, basketball court surfaces and the like. If you do not have access to such a program, what can you do with your old footwear? I live in an apartment so using them for outside activities like gardening can not provide the solution.

I asked this question on my blog last month but nobody left a comment, I’m hoping your readers can come up with some interesting solutions.

We have a similar problem - if they’re in good condition then we charity-shop or freecycle them, but you only need so many pairs of scruffy decorating/gardening shoes. So anyone got any suggestions?

Any details of the programmes John K mentions would be great too.

(Re: the photo. I received the email from John K first thing yesterday morning then, while walking to the shops at lunchtime, spotted that a pair of shoes had been thrown over a telephone wire near my house. When I went back to take the picture mid-afternoon, another pair had joined it. On one hand, a waste of perfectly good shoes; on the other hand, a very conveniently timed photo opportunity for me…)