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New Report: Closing the Footwear Loop

Today we are publishing the Phase 1 report coming from Closing the Footwear Loop, the first major output of the project. Developed in partnership with Circle Economy, the report dives deep into the material flow, composition analysis and condition of post-consumer footwear waste, capturing the on-ground findings from our pilots with CETIA, Matoha, Picvisa, and The 8 Impact, and translating them into actionable insights for the industry.

1 June 2026

We are thrilled to share the first major output of the Closing the Footwear Loop project: our Phase 1 report, developed in partnership with Circle Economy.

This report dives deep into the material flow, composition analysis and condition of post-consumer footwear waste, capturing the on-ground findings from our pilots with CETIA, Matoha, Picvisa, and The 8 Impact, and translating them into actionable insights for the industry.

Here are some of the findings:

  • 50% of post-consumer footwear waste is non-rewearable
  • 46% of post-consumer footwear waste is rewearable, and the remaining 4% is contaminated, hindering rewearability and recyclability
  • 90% of rewearable footwear is exported, mostly to the UAE, China, and Pakistan
  • 24% of shoes classified as non-rewearable had no physical damage
  • 37.7% of non-renewable sole materials were unidentifiable by NIR scanning

The project also piloted what we believe to be one of the first three dedicated footwear sorting technologies, developed by Matoha, CETIA, and Picvisa.

Moreover, with France being the frontrunner EU country with a footwear-specific EPR scheme, we worked with THE 8 IMPACT and successfully recycled sports shoes and sneakers using EPR feedstock, demonstrating that closed-loop recycling for these archetypes is technically possible.

The full report is out today.

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