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SportSG and partners apologise over lapse that led to used shoes donated for recycling being sold in Indonesia

SINGAPORE — Sport Singapore (SportSG) and its partners have apologised after donated sports shoes meant to be recycled for use in facilities such as jogging tracks ended up being offered for resale instead because of a mix-up at a subcontractor's premises.

A worker sorts second-hand shoes at a warehouse owned by Yok Impex, a Singapore firm, in Singapore, Jan 6, 2023.

A worker sorts second-hand shoes at a warehouse owned by Yok Impex, a Singapore firm, in Singapore, Jan 6, 2023.

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SINGAPORE — Sport Singapore (SportSG) and its partners have apologised after donated sports shoes meant to be recycled for use in facilities such as jogging tracks ended up being offered for resale instead because of a mix-up at a subcontractor's premises.

In a joint statement with its partners in the programme on Monday (Feb 27), SportSG announced that the services of the subcontractor, Yok Impex, a firm involved in trading goods for recycling, were being terminated.

The statement said the project partners were told in January that news agency Reuters had tracked donated shoes using a device implanted in the footwear. Most of the shoes involved in the investigation ended up on sale in Indonesia.

The partners then undertook an investigation which identified "vulnerabilities in the process chain" which resulted in donated shoes not being sent for recycling. The error occurred only at Yok Impex's premises, it found.

The "old shoe new future" project is a recycling initiative spearheaded by SportSG and petrochemicals giant Dow Inc launched in July 2021 as part of a national effort to recycle sports shoes into material used in facilities which also include fitness corners and playgrounds.

About 300 donation bins were set up island-wide with a firm called Alba W&H Smart City appointed to collect all the shoes. In January 2022, the firm subcontracted Yok Impex to collect the shoes in certain areas of Singapore.

Donated shoes picked up from the bins were sorted at Yok Impex's premises before being sent to Alba W&H's warehouse for registration and weighing, and then on to a grinding facility to be converted into granules used in building material.

The error occurred at Yok Impex's premises "where the aggregation of the shoe bins in parallel with Yok Impex's sorting activities resulted in some shoes being extracted for resale instead of recycling".

REUTERS FOUND DONATED SHOES OFFERED FOR RESALE OVERSEAS

In its investigation, Reuters placed tracking devices in 11 pairs of shoes that were donated to the initiative.

Using the tracking devices, its reporters followed the shoes' journey and eventually located them at various retail stalls, flea markets and other locations across Indonesia.

In the statement, SportSG and its partners said they hoped the public would continue to support the initiative.

The programme aims to divert at least 170,000 pairs of sports and school shoes away from landfill each year.

Already, 10,000kg of used shoes have been recycled into material used in facilities such as Kallang Football Hub and a sport facility under construction in Jurong Town, they added.

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Sport Singapore recycling donation

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