Lose Your Flip-Flops, Help Kids: Win-Win
TerraCycle Old Navy Include USA
Friday was Earth Day, but there is still time to participate in planet-friendly do-goodery. At Old Navy locations across the country, including here in St. Louis, you can drop off flip-flops to be recycled into playground equipment.
(It's no matter if you're dropping them off because they're old and worn out, or if you've finally come to your senses and realized flip-flops are a hideous abomination that should never see the light of day. Old Navy will help turn them into fun for kids either way.)
The retailer is partnering with New Jersey-based TerraCycle, a company that specializes in recycling or reusing hard-to-recycle items. In the past, they've collected pens and turned them into trash cans and desk organizers and reworked Capri Sun drink pouches into bags.
Megan Yarnall, publicist for TerraCycle, tells us that the flip-flops are shredded and pelletized, and then the plastic is made into playground equipment.
"We're going to donate these playground structures to four communities across the country," Yarnall says. The communities haven't been chosen yet, and the collection drive runs until May 21.
"It can be any brand, any kind of flip-flop. Not just Old Navy," she says.
So you have no excuse. Get those disgusting things out of your closet, but don't landfill them, either. It's a win-win.