Close the loop

With the optimum use of raw materials, waste streams must be converted into raw material flows. In our case, this means that materials from discarded footwear are converted into raw materials again.

Circularity

Even though our footwear has a long service life, there comes a time when they need to be replaced and it will be necessary to purchase a new pair. This does not mean that the materials in this footwear need to be new as well. On the contrary. By collecting and recycling used footwear, we want to manufacture more new safety footwear.

In this way, we prevent raw materials from becoming exhausted and we make a positive impact on people and the environment. Fully circular safety footwear does not exist at this time. But we are working hard on it. It is our goal to have a fully circular product range by 2025. You can read more about the requirements for a circular product on page 21. Ambitious? Absolutely!

Circular Footwear Alliance

The Circular Footwear Alliance (CFA) was established in 2020. This alliance is a unique collaboration between Allshoes and other parties with the larger goal: creating a sustainable future and a circular system for safety footwear.

By collecting used safety footwear and dismantling and recycling this footwear, the CFA ensures that as many raw materials as possible are recovered. By placing CFA boxes at locations where many people who wear safety footwear come, it is easy for old footwear to be handed in. At this time, there are 130 collection locations in all of the Netherlands. Each box is delivered with a total service: as soon as it is full, the collected footwear is picked up. In 2021, we picked up 4200 pairs of shoes. We hope to achieve our goal of recycling 2 million safety shoes annually in this way within a few years.

Sharing knowledge and resources has the highest priority within the alliance. We are working hard to draw more attention to the CFA, expand our network of partners, collect footwear and find new solutions for the reuse of materials.

“Circularity and the reuse of raw materials are important pillars for us. Each step that we do better today when compared to yesterday contributes to a better future for us and for the generations that will follow. In accordance with Friedrich Nietzsche’s motto ‘The doer alone learneth’, Intersafe has joined the initiative of the Circular Footwear Alliance.”