Unwanted trainers to be collected from running events to tackle waste

Unwanted trainers will be collected from participants at the London Marathon Running Show in a bid to tackle the number of shoes ending up in landfill.

London Marathon Events (LME) will be supporting the running shoe collection campaign JogOn to collect unwanted trainers at its running events.

Estimates suggest more than three million shoes end up in landfill each year and JogOn’s ambition is to remove more than one million pairs of trainers from landfill.

Hundreds of trainers and running shoes will be collected from participants at events including the 2024 Brighton Marathon Weekend and the 2024 TCS London Marathon, both set to take place this April.

JogOn drop-off points will be available at the Brighton Marathon Weekend on April 6 and 7 in Preston Park, and at the 2024 TCS London Marathon Running Show, where all London Marathon participants collect their running bibs between April 17 and 20.

All trainers and running shoes donated by participants will be sorted by the JogOn team to ensure they are suitable for redistribution before being sent on for reuse in the UK and overseas.

JogOn works with companies, charities and organisations that can make use of second-hand shoes, with 90% of donated shoes suitable for redistribution.

Any running shoes that are not suitable for re-use are disposed of by the JogOn team via a waste-to-energy plant where electricity is generated from incinerating waste.

Kate Chapman, head of sustainability at LME, said: “We’re working to introduce more initiatives every year to reduce the environmental impact of our events.

“Every participant in our running events will have at least one pair of running trainers and it’s likely they will also have other trainers they no longer use.

“The majority of these trainers end up in landfill, or being incinerated, but our partnership with JogOn means we can now encourage all our participants to check their cupboards for unwanted running shoes and bring them to the drop-off locations at the Brighton Marathon and the TCS London Marathon.

“JogOn can then give new life to pre-loved trainers and donate them to people who need them.”

Tony Piedade, founder of JogOn, said: “I am super excited to be partnering with London Marathon Events.

“It’s a real boost to the JogOn campaign to keep unwanted running shoes out of landfill.

“I am grateful for the leadership and energy that the London Marathon Events team has bought to the campaign and look forward to working with them for years to come.”

JogOn will be collecting discarded trainers and running shoes at the following events this year:

• Brighton Marathon Weekend on April 6 and 7

• TCS London Marathon Running Show from April 17 to 20

• Standard Chartered Great City Race on July 23

• The Big Half on September 1

• Vitality Westminster Mile on September 21

• Vitality London 10,000 on September 22

• The Royal Parks Half on October 13