ShoeBox Recycling, Greensgrow Farm and Subaru Collaborate to Recycle Shoes

(3BL Media) Philadelphia, PA – July 10, 2012 – Today, local Philadelphia Greensgrow Farms, in partnership with ShoeBox Recycling, introduced a shoe-recycling program with all proceeds feeding Greensgrow Farms programming. Subaru of America will also collaborate to kick-off this partnership with ShoeBox Recycling bins placed at the Subaru display during the 2012 WXPN XPoNential Music Festival Presented by Subaru July 20-22, 2012 at Wiggins Park on New Jersey’s Camden Waterfront.  Festival attendees are encouraged to responsibly discard their gently used shoes.  This natural alignment of sustainability and local farming seeds the foundation of a great relationship that will inspire all to change their mindset about the global need for shoe recycling and reuse.

"We are thrilled to become a part of a program that encourages our community members to further walk along the path of sustainability and find new ways to support our farm,” said Mary Seton Corboy of Greensgrow Farms. “Just like we take the land in this great city and make it viable again, we all have an opportunity to make a great choice with our excess shoes and put them up for reuse.”

ShoeBox Recycling is proud to be a for-profit recycler of shoes. They have flipped the recycling triangle upside down and have mastered the most powerful ‘R,’ REUSE, with all of the shoes collected destined for reuse by those in need of affordable footwear. They have humanized the process by adding the prospect of finding your SoleMate. Just like the ancient mystique of the ‘message in a bottle,’ you can trace the journey your shoes take to meet their new feet with a note in your shoes. With over 300 million pairs of perfectly reusable shoes hitting landfills each year, they are looking to change the way people think about their shoes.

"Shoe recycling needs to become as familiar to us all and as easy to perform as bottle, can, and paper recycling,” said Lisa Pomerantz, Queen of Sole at ShoeBox Recycling. “Our collaboration with Greensgrow Farms and Subaru is such a natural fit.  We see win-win all around as we help urban farming and reaping the rewards of the land while helping people all over the globe have an opportunity for affordable shoes. Our SoleMate program encourages meeting new and diverse cultures across the globe with the hope of making the world a smaller, friendlier and greener place.”

Subaru is also committed to recycling; in 2004, the Subaru of Indiana (SIA) manufacturing plant became the first automotive assembly facility to be "zero landfill," meaning all waste is recycled or turned into electricity. In other words, a single-family home produces more waste in a day than the SIA plant does in a year. Greensgrow currently provides Subaru guidance and education on planting, maintaining and harvesting the Subaru Share The Love Garden, a one-of-a-kind corporate initiative which donates to local food banks helping combat hunger in the Delaware Valley. 

“Subaru is pleased to extend our relationship with Greensgrow to ShoeBox Recycling at this year’s WXPN XPoNential Music Festival.  Our commitment to recycling makes this a natural fit to bring Shoebox Recycling to the Subaru display,” said Matt Ritter, Director of the Philadelphia Zone Office for Subaru.

The XPoNential Music Festival presented by Subaru, now in its 8th year at Wiggins Park on the Camden Waterfront, regularly features an eclectic lineup of established stars and emerging artists on two stages over three days, July 20-22, 2012. Artist and ticket information is available online at http://xpn.org/concerts-events/xponential-music-festival-2012

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ABOUT SHOEBOX RECYCLING
ShoeBox Recycling is proud to be a for-profit recycler of shoes. Founded in 2011 with a mission to recycle as many pairs of shoes as possible while offering the opportunity to find your SoleMate in the process.  With over 300 million pairs of shoes hitting landfills each year, ShoeBox Recycling is looking to change the way people think about their shoes and the need for reuse around the globe.  ShoeBox Recycling is headquartered in Fairless Hills, PA. For more information, call 888.482.5754.

ABOUT SUBARU OF AMERICA
Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 600 dealers across the United States.  Subaru boasts the most fuel-efficient line-up of all-wheel drive products sold in the market today based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy standards.  All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information, visit www.subaru.com.

ABOUT GREENSGROW
Greensgrow Farms is a subsidiary of the Greensgrow Philadelphia Project, a 15 year old  501(c)3 non-profit organization and a nationally-recognized pioneer and leader in urban agriculture. As an extension of its mission to transform vacant urban lots into positive green spaces, Greensgrow runs a City Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative, conducts education programs, and consults on urban agriculture practices. We are dedicated to promoting social entrepreneurship through the reuse of land once deemed useless, while reconnecting city dwellers with rural food producers and promoting the greening of Philadelphia's homes and gardens. Greensgrow's non-profit Philadelphia Project brings green ideas to life while Greensgrow Farm Inc. brings food and flowers to our neighbors.

Greensgrow has shown its breadth as an organization and a national leader in urban agriculture by receiving PASA’s 2012 Sustainable Agriculture Leadership Award, the Sustainable Business of the Year Award 2011 from the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and Philadelphia Magazine’s 2011 Best of Philly for City Nursery.

For more details about Greensgrow Farm, visit www.greensgrow.org.