From Waste to Resource: The Footwear Recycling Pilot Transforming India

Situation/Challenge

India’s footwear industry is one of the largest in the world, valued at over USD 15.9 billion and producing nearly 20 billion pairs annually. Despite its scale, the sector faces a major sustainability crisis: the lack of infrastructure to recover or recycle post-consumer footwear. Discarded shoes—often made of complex, multi-material, non-biodegradable components—end up in landfills, water bodies, or incinerators, contributing significantly to environmental degradation. This represents not just a waste problem, but a systemic issue requiring holistic and scalable solutions.

Solution:

To address this challenge, Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF), an initiative by Intellecap, collaborated with Greenworms to pilot a first-of-its-kind post-consumer footwear recycling program in India. The pilot had a clear long-term vision: mainstreaming footwear recycling by building a robust circular ecosystem that supports sustainability, livelihoods, and brand accountability.

Key components of the pilot included:

Recycling 150–200 tonnes of footwear waste.
Building the capacity of 150+ women in collection and sorting.
Enabling traceability across the value chain.
Achieving a 50–70% recycling rate of collected materials.
Establishing forward linkages to support the recycling ecosystem.

Outcome and Impact:

In just four months, the pilot demonstrated promising results:

130 tonnes of post-consumer footwear collected.
90+ tonnes sorted, including materials like EVA, PVC, Rubber, and TPR.
130+ women trained, fostering inclusive circular livelihoods.
A sorting protocol was developed, and materials were successfully forwarded to recyclers for reintegration.

This initiative not only validated the technical feasibility of large-scale footwear recycling but also highlighted its social and economic potential, particularly for women in the informal sector.

Key Takeaways:

Systemic problems require collaborative, systemic solutions — building an ecosystem is key.
Post-consumer footwear recycling is feasible with proper design, training, and infrastructure.
Inclusivity enhances sustainability — empowering women workers contributes to equitable circular economies.
Brands have a crucial role to play — collaboration with manufacturers can drive innovation in circular product lines.
Pilots like this can serve as blueprints for nationwide circular economy models.

Pilot that is building ecosystem solutions:

This pilot engagement reaffirms Intellecap’s position in building a nationwide circular economy for footwear by inviting footwear brands and manufacturers to explore recycled inputs from this pilot and co-develop the next generation of circular product lines.