How Old Tread Becomes New Track.
Exactly how do your old kicks – and our manufacturing waste – get turned into Nike Grind material? It depends which of our two facilities processes them.
- Wilsonville, Oregon: Opened in 1993, our Wilsonville facility uses a “slice-and-grind” technique, where each shoe is cut into three slices – rubber outsole, foam midsole and fiber upper. These slices are then fed through grinders and purified.
- Meerhout, Belgium: Our Belgium facility, which opened in 2005, grinds shoes up whole, then passes the material through a series of complex separators.
Watch the video for an in-depth view of our recycling process in action:
No matter how your shoes are processed, the end result is the same – three high-quality Nike Grind materials ready to be put back in the game:
- Nike Grind Rubber, made from the shoe's outsole, is used in track surfaces, interlocking gym flooring tiles, playground surfacing and even new Nike products, such as the outsoles of the Nike Pegasus or the Jordan XX3. It’s also used in trim items like buttons and zipper pulls.
- Nike Grind Foam, made from the shoe's midsole, is used as a cushion for outdoor basketball and tennis courts, as well as futsal fields.
- Nike Grind Fiber, made from the shoe's fabric upper, is used in the creation of cushioning pads for facilities like indoor synthetic courts and wood courts.
Need a surface for your organization or school? Learn more about using Nike Grind in a surfacing project.
