In April 2019, Adidas came out with a recyclable shoe made out of one type of plastic that can be recycled into a new pair of shoes when they wear out. According to CNN Business, this shoe has been in the works for Adidas for nearly 10 years. “The new shoe, called Futurecraft. Loop, is made out of a single material, called thermoplastic polyurethane, which can be reused. Futurecraft. Loop is Adidas' latest effort to become more environmentally friendly,” reports CNN.
Along with designing a shoe completely made out of thermoplastic polyurethane, Adidas has also partnered with Parley Ocean School, a school with the sole purpose of educating students on plastic in the ocean. Adidas has created a clothing and shoe line all made out of plastic from the ocean. The shoe made completely out of reclaimed plastic from the ocean is called the UltraBoost shoe, reports CNBC.
Parley believes in ocean education and educating people on how to keep the world’s oceans clean.
The North Shore Ocean Fest was held on June 1 at Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku. The purpose of this event is to celebrate the ocean and educate kindergarten to high school students in the ocean. This festival was free for the public.
Marina Hadley, a freshman from Utah studying peacebuilding, attended Ocean Fest. Hadley said, “Living on an island has opened my eyes to how much garbage and plastic washes up from it. Ocean Fest helped me become more aware of how I personally add to that and things that I can do to improve that. Being aware of what you consume and how much garbage we accumulate should be the first step we all take towards ocean conservation.”
Hadley added her love for the ocean has changed because she was able to be educated at this event. “It was really fun to see how many people came to support ocean conservation. Jack Johnson sang, there were food vendors, hula dancing, and many other local supporters. We even saw Drake Bell from the TV show Drake and Josh.”
Along with Adidas creating shoes customers can recycle, 4ocean is a bracelet company that creates bracelets entirely out of plastic from the ocean. The 4ocean website says, “Made with recycled materials, every bracelet purchased funds the removal of 1 pound of trash from the ocean and coastlines. In less than 2 years, 4ocean has removed 4,580,367 pounds of trash from the ocean and coastlines. 4ocean currently operates of out multiple countries and employs over 150 people worldwide.”
Simple steps everyone can do daily to reduce waste from greeneducationfoundation.org are:
- Stop using plastic straws
- Use reusable grocery bags
- Use a reusable water bottle
- Use matches instead of plastic lighters
- Use reusable food containers