How can I reuse or recycle old Crocs?

CrocsLyndall, of March’s bread tag query, has got a couple more “how can I recycle this?”es for us. Firstly, following on from Monday’s high heeled shoe question:

does anyone have any bright ideas about recycling old crocs? mine now have holes in the bottom of them! would love to get them resoled if possible, but have not looked into this as yet and it’s generally not cheap.

It looks like Crocs themselves have a recycling scheme – old shoes are grounded up to make up (20% of) new ‘SolesUnited’ shoes for distribution in developing countries — but it seems only for US people at the moment (or people who are willing to pay the postage for their old shoes to reach the US). (They also have spare part schemes for replacing broken straps or rivets, which wouldn’t solve Lyndall’s worn-sole problem but might help save a few pairs from being dumped.)

So any other suggestions? I guess the good old standby of gardening shoes is out if they’re leaky but I suspect the lightness of the foam might be useful for something.

(Photo by sugarbeatl)

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11 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle old Crocs?”


  1. Steve Lawson says:

    How about (with the use of a saw) turning them into door wedges/stops?

  2. yogahz says:

    Fill in the holes with Shoe-Goo or Bondo or something like that.

  3. Sandy says:

    You could donate them to a second hand shop – someone else could use them.

    • Anonymous says:

      The problem with donating damaged items is that second hand shops will ften just throw away what they judge “unsellable”.

  4. Sue says:

    I’ve seen them used as a hanging outdoor planter. They were really cute and funky.

  5. Trish says:

    I actually saw in a shoe store that you can return them to be recycled. They’re ground/melted down, and they make new ones. They then send them to Africa. I’d check their website.

  6. Leah says:

    This might sound a bit stupid but you could cut them up into little bits and put them in packages for insulation during postage!
    If you are getting rid of more than one pair in different colours you could mix and match colours to make it fun!

  7. Motherfungus says:

    Chop them up and use them for drainage in planters. They should hold just enought moisture that you won’t have to water your plants as often.

  8. Anonymous says:

    send them to crocs for tots…they have a website…

  9. ava says:

    donate them to crocs for tots

  10. Dave says:

    I would paint and decorate them and as someone previously suggested use them as pots to hang plants. Good drainage possibility :) Kids would love to decorate!



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