FINAL PROJECT REPORT FORM IMCRC Project number

IMCRC 260

Budget code

J11777

INVESTIGATOR DETAILS Details

Principal Investigator

Co-investigator 1

Title

Professor

Professor

Forename(s)

Shahin

Chris

Surname

Rahimifard

Blackhouse

Organisation

Loughborough University Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering

Loughborough University Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering

Division or Department

Co-investigator 2

PROJECT DETAILS Title of Research Project

Minimisation of End-of-Life Waste in Footwear Industry

Funds Awarded (£)

£125k - £250k (Medium)

Start Date:

March 2009

End Date:

May 2011

OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH SUMMARY Original objectives as presented in the grant proposal

The overall aim of this project is to minimise the amount of post-consumer footwear waste send to landfill through generation of eco-design guidelines and bespoke recycling processes that underpin the realisation of a sustainable product recycling chain for the footwear sector. To achieve this goal the following research objectives have been identified: 1. To explore the generation of a ‘design for recycling’ approach for footwear products to facilitate economic recovery of material content in post-consumer shoes. 2. To investigate novel disassembly and separation processes tailored to the requirements of the wide range of materials used in footwear manufacture. 3. To specify a number of business scenarios for the realisation of a sustainable footwear recycling chain. 4. To validate the results through a number of industrial case studies.

These objectives remained valid throughout the research (tick box), or These objectives were changed (tick box).

(If so, please explain how/why in your report)

Project abstract at time of proposal

The global footwear market generated total revenues of £ 78.2 billion in 2005 and this is projected to reach £ 95 billion by 2010 (Datamonitor 2006). Consumer expenditure on footwear in the EU-25 was £ 43.1 billion while the figure for the UK was £ 5.1 billion in 2003. The footwear industry is a manufacturing sector which utilises a wide variety of materials and processes to produce a range of distinctly different products, from sandals to more specialised safety footwear. Over the last 20 years, the footwear sector has placed significant effort in improving material efficiency, as well as eliminating the use of hazardous materials during the production phase. However, the environmental gains made in production are being overtaken by the considerable increase in the demand for footwear products. Worldwide footwear consumption has doubled every 20 years, from 2.5 billion pairs in 1950 to more than 19 billion pairs of shoes in 2005 (World Footwear 2007). Additionally, the worldwide per capita consumption of footwear has also considerably increased, from 1 pair of shoes per year for every person in the world in 1950 to almost 2.6 pairs of shoes in 2005. In the European Union, footwear consumption has increased by 22% from 2002 to 2005 to reach 2.3 billion pairs of shoes , from which around 330 million pairs are sold every year in the UK. In the EU, it is estimated that the waste amount arising from post-consumer shoes could reach 1.2 million tonnes per year. From this post consumer shoe waste a small proportion is being recycled in each Member State, mainly through reuse and redistribution of worn and unwanted shoes to less developed countries by charitable organisations such as the Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCOL), Oxfam or other private companies such as the European Recycling Company and Lawrence M Barry & Co (LMB). However, there is a strong debate about the impact of such reuse activities in terms of their overall environmental and economic consequences for the local communities which receives these post consumer shoes. The vision of ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ remains as one of the major challenges of 21st century in many industrial sectors. In footwear sector, this vision presents a very ambitious target as currently less than 5% of the 19 billion pairs of shoes produced worldwide every year is recycled or reused. The overall aim of this research proposal is to investigate the novel design and recycling processes required to underpin the achievement of the vision of “Zero Waste to Landfill” in Footwear sector and to develop business models that support the realisation of a sustainable shoe recovery value chain.

Summary of Outcomes: In simple terms describe your work in such a way that it could be publicised to a general audience.

At present less than 5% of 20 billion pairs of shoes produced per year are recycled or reused, with most being disposed of in landfill sites around the world. Reusing the shoes in developing countries is often the preferred option for the charity organisations behind current shoe collection schemes. However, not all of the collected shoes are deemed suitable for reuse, with a sizeable amount of these old shoes more suited for material recycling due to their poor conditions. Material recycling of footwear products is however a challenging problem with most modern shoes containing a complex mixture of leather, rubber, textile, polymers and metallic materials. Furthermore due to the relatively low value of recoverable materials, the cost of the shoe recycling processes has to be kept to a minimum. The research undertaken at Loughborough University has created a number of bespoke material recycling processes designed specifically for the separation of various footwear material categories. This is achieve by grinding the shoes into small pieces which are separated into five different material categories (rubber, leather, foam, textiles and metals) based upon their difference in density and size. The process operates in a semi-automated manner to keep manual intervention and the associated processing costs to a minimum. For each of the reclaimable materials a number of useful applications have been identified to create a range of ‘material value chains’, such that profit can be made from a commercial implementation of the technology. A number of potential applications have been investigated in the construction industry such as, surfacing, insulation and underlay product. In additions, for a sub-set of the reclaimed materials (some rubbers and leather), it is also deemed possible to use the reclaimed materials for the manufacture of new products, including new shoes. In the longer term it is also recognised that the design of the footwear product plays a significant role in achieving improved recyclability, enabling higher quality materials to be reclaimed, which in turn will provide greater potential for using the materials for high value applications (such as the manufacture of new products). Thus a ‘design for recycling’ approach has been created based upon the learning from shoe recycling case studies. The developed ‘design for recycling’ approach presents practical design recommendations that will make a real different to the recyclability of the shoe. As part of this design work a number of software tools have been created which are currently being tested for their integration within existing commercial footwear development processes. Industrial involvement has been very strong during the course of the project. And feedback from project stakeholders has been extremely positive, with a number of these industrialists wishing to directly exploit the final results of our work. Three of our original industry partners, Next, Clarks and Pentland Brands, are supporting a follow on project to explore the integration of footwear recycling within their footwear design processes. In addition, we are currently exploring the development of a commercial scale pilot plant for mixed footwear recycling with our industrial partners. If successfully funded this will become the first of its kind in the world.

Web address with further details if you wish: http://www.centreforsmart.co.uk/projects.html

BENEFICIARIES Beneficiaries of the research

In the UK, more than 330 million pairs of shoes consumed every year and it is estimated the waste amount arising from post consumer shoes could reach 165,000 tonnes per year. A Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) study has estimated that only about 9% of all recovered post-consumer textiles, clothing and footwear are sold as second-hand products, which indicates that currently more than 150,000 tonnes of shoes are disposed in landfills. In most countries, including the UK, managing post-consumer waste has long been and, in most cases, still is the responsibility of governmental agencies and local authorities. Though in the UK at present, the total weight of post-consumer shoe waste processed by local authorities and send to landfill is not monitored, based on the annual retail footwear figures the cost of managing of this waste stream is predicted to be in excess of £10 million per year. This highlights the significant potential that the project results would have for the national and local waste authorities. In addition, the project has benefited from collaboration with a large number of stakeholders across the ‘footwear supply and recovery chain’ including manufacturers, retailers, associations and governmental organisations, as outlined below: 

Nike, the largest manufacturer of athletic shoes, apparel and sports equipment in the world.



Pentland Group, a global brand management company based in the UK, which owns more than a dozen brands of sport, leisure apparel and footwear including Speedo, Berghaus, Ted Baker etc.



Tesco, the largest British retailer, both by global sales and by domestic market share, and the fourth largest retailer in the world.



Next plc, one of UK’s leading retailers of clothing, footwear and homeware with over 460 stores nationwide.



Clarks, one of the UK’s best known footwear producers



New Balance, US based company specialising in production of athletic shoes



Environment Agency, the leading public organisation for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales.



Terra Plana, shoe manufacturer based in the UK which using materials like coats, ex-military parachutes, prison blankets, car seat scrap leather, old towels and recycled rubber to produce fashionable shoes.



European Recycling Company, the only specialist shoe recycling company in the United Kingdom with more than 3000 shoe recycling banks throughout the country.



Textile Recycling Association, a trade association representing the UK textile recycling and the second hand clothing industry.



Soletec Systems, an R&D company which provides innovative technology solutions to the footwear industry.



Lawrence M Barry and Co. London based textile recyclers



SATRA, the world's leading research and technology organisation for consumer goods industries.

This organisation have all benefited from involvement in the footwear recycling project and have expressed their willingness to be involved in the future research activities. In addition, the researcher employed in this project, Dr. Mike Lee, has significantly benefited from working directly with our industrial partners. Mike is now formulating and leading the research on the ‘next generation of recycling technologies and processes’, within the Centre for SMART at Loughborough University. Finally, the research undertaken throughout this project have been utilised to develop teaching materials for a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Publications

Lee, M, S, Rahimifard

(2)

Development of an Economically Sustainable Recycling Process for the Footwear Sector

conference

year

vol.

2010

page

17

334339

International co-author?

TYPE Journal/Conf.

International co-author?

TITLE

Industrial co-author?

AUTHOR(S)

Industrial co-author?

REFERENCE

Refereed?

Please list up to five significant publications that arose principally as a result of the research funded through this grant and indicate the type (journal, conference, book, patent, software, other); whether there was an international or industrial co-author and whether the publication was refereed.

Refereed?

(1)

17th CIRP Life Cycle Engineering Conference (LCE2010)

Please also list all publications since the last Annual Report. REFERENCE AUTHOR(S)

TITLE

TYPE Journal/Conf.

Carolyn Fry

Manufacturing Shoes: Kicking the landfill habit

IET Magazine

year

vol.

2010

Vol 5 issue 16

page 55-56

Article in IET magazine

PROJECT PARTNERS Details

Project Partner 1 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

The European Recycling Company Limited

Address Line 1

Whitehead House

Address Line 2

120 Beddington Lane

Address Line 3

Croydon

Town/City

Surrey

Postal Code

CR0 4TD

Country

UK

Details

Project Partner 2 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

Soletec Systems Limited

Address Line 1

Viking House,

Address Line 2

Unit 10, Viking Road,

Address Line 3

Wigston,

Town/City

Leicester

Administrative area/County

Leicestershire

Postal Code

LE18 2BL

Country

UK

Details

Project Partner 3 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

Pentland Group plc

Division/Department

Group Business Standards

Address Line 1

The Pentland Centre,

Address Line 2

Squires Lane,

Town/City

London

Postal Code

N3 2QL

Country

UK

Details

Project Partner 4 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

Terra Plana / Raddisshme Design House

Division/Department

Head office

Address Line 1

124 Bermondsey Street,

Address Line 2

London Bridge,

Town/City

London,

Postal Code

SE1 3TX

Country

UK

Details

Project Partner 5 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

TESCO

Division/Department

Tesco Stores Ltd

Address Line 1

PO Box 267

Address Line 2

Progress House

Address Line 3

The Boulevard, Shire Park

Town/City

Welwyn Garden City

Administrative area/County

Hertfordshire

Postal Code

AL7 1GB

Country

UK

Details

Project Partner 6 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

Next plc

Division/Department

Head office

Address Line 1

Desford Road

Address Line 2

Enderby

Town/City

Leicester

Postal Code

LE19 4AT

Country

UK

Details

Project Partner 7 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

Textile Recycling Association

Division/Department

Head office

Address Line 1

PO Box 965

Address Line 2

Chart Sutton

Address Line 3

Maidstone

Town/City

Kent

Postal Code

ME17 3WD

Country

UK

Details

Project Partner 8 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

Lawrence M Barry & Co (LMB)

Division/Department

Head office

Address Line 1

Units 4-5 Stephenson Street

Address Line 2

Canning Town

Town/City

London

Postal Code

E16 4ST

Details

Project Partner 9 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

Nike Europe

Division/Department

Corporate Responsibility Manager

Address Line 1

Nike European Operations

Address Line 2

Colosseum 1

Address Line 3

1213 NL Hilversum

Postal Code

1213 NL

Country

The Netherlands

Details

Project Partner 10 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

C & J Clarks Properties

Division/Department

Corporate Social Responsibilities

Address Line 1

P O Box 7

Town/City

Street

Administrative area/County

Somerset

Postal Code

BA16 0YL

Country

UK

Details

Project Partner 11 : Actual Details

Name of partner organisation

New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.

Address Line 1

5 South Union Street

Town/City

Lawrence

Administrative area/County

MA

Postal Code

01843-1603

Country

USA

FINAL SUCCESS STORY FORM IMCRC Project Number: Summary of Case Study/Research Project The worldwide consumption of footwear is estimated to be in excess of 20 billion pairs of shoes per year. To date very little work has been done to develop material recycling solutions for mixed footwear products. In fact less than 5% of end-of-life shoes are being recycled, with most being disposed of in landfill sites around the globe. One of the primary reasons is that most modern footwear products contain a complex mixture of leather, rubber, textile, polymers and metallic materials, that makes it difficult to perform complete separation and reclaim of material streams in an economically sustainable manner. This project has developed an economically feasible automated material recycling process for mixed postconsumer footwear waste. This prototype recycling system has been based around the principles of product fragmentation followed by a number of material separation process. In this system, the shoes are first granulated to 5-8mm particles then separated based on the difference in material density, using air based separation technologies. The recycling process has been demonstrated using a number of case studies with various different types of postconsumer footwear products. The results show that with the developed system is capable of reclaiming five usable material streams; leathers, textiles, foams, rubbers and metals. For each of the reclaimed materials there are a variety of applications such as surfacing materials, insulation boards and underlay products. Experiments with the lab based recycling processes have also highlighted a number of issues related to the design of shoes which reduces their recyclability. This information has thus been utilised to create a number of ‘design for recycling’ tools, ranging from simple design guidelines to a footwear recycling simulation software. A cost-model framework has also been created as part of the project, to guide the development of an economically feasible recycling system that can be implemented on a commercial scale.

Evidence of Academic Impact, including impact on the research area Very little research work has been done on footwear recycling within the academic community and Loughborough University maintain a world leading authority in this field. To date we have presented our work at the international CIRP conference in May 2010 and more recently an article about our work has been published in the IET (October 2010). As a direct result of the IMCRC funded research a number of academic papers are also planned for publication in 2011/2012; in which we will disseminate our research findings and highlight our continued expertise in the area of footwear recycling. Over the last two years we have also been invited to numerous events; where we have been recognised as ‘academic experts in footwear recycling’. For example, we were recently invited (March 2011) to present our work at the newly established TFT (tropical Forest Trust) footwear and leather working group in London where numerous stakeholders in the footwear industry were brought together to discuss sustainable footwear issues. Footwear recycling was considered a key aspect in which we were the only academic institution with any significant knowledge on the subject, highlighting Loughborough’s position as a world leading authority in the area.

Evidence of Impact on the Economy and/or Society The project results have the potential to radically reshape the future of waste management in the footwear industry. Recycling has a huge and ever growing importance among the footwear industry, particularly as EU legislation is set to impact the sector within the next decade. The IMCRC funded research project has taken a further step towards the long term sustainability of footwear products and it is believed that the exploitation of the project results by both governmental organisations (Regional and National Waste Authorities) and commercial organisations (e.g. (European Recycling Company) will lead to the significant reduction of waste that is currently sent to landfill. This new approach to waste management of footwear products will also create economical benefits through savings associated to avoidance of landfill changes/taxes, generation of new revenues from recycled materials, and creation of jobs in footwear recovery sector.

Benefits to Researchers, Students, or Collaborators Our industrial partners see huge merit in the work done during their collaboration in our IMCRC funded project and a number of them wish to directly exploit the results of our work. Three of our original industry partners, Next, Clarks and Pentland Brands, are supporting a EPSRC funded Research Associate Industrial Secondment project (from June 2011 – June 2012) to integrate the footwear recycling consideration within commercial footwear design processes. In addition, we are currently exploring proof of concept funds (match funded with one of our industrial partners) to develop our lab-scale footwear recycling prototypes into commercial scale process. As well as the direct exploitation of the project results many of our indusial partners wish to continue working with us in the future and have proposed mechanisms in which we can create the required funding for continued research in footwear recycling. In addition, the researcher employed in this project, Dr. Mike Lee, has significantly benefited from working directly with our industrial partners. Mike is now formulating and leading the research on the ‘next generation of recycling technologies and processes’, within the Centre for SMART at Loughborough University. Finally, the research undertaken throughout this project have been utilised to develop teaching materials for a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and providing students with practical examples of product recycling possibilities. A number of final year undergraduate students have also undertaken projects in which they have been involved in the development of novel new footwear recycling processes.

Background information and relevant website(s) http://www.centreforsmart.co.uk/projects.html