Three Premier League footballers have teamed up with Olympic gold-medal winner Matthew Pinsent to launch a new JJB Sports recycling initiative.
Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick joined forces with Everton's Mikel Arteta and Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given to help promote the new scheme, which hopes to encourage people of all ages to recycle unwanted sports shoes in return for a £5 discount voucher.
The Premier League trio donated some of their unwanted boots and were joined by former Great Britain rower Pinsent, who donated the trainers he wore while training for the 2006 marathon.
"As soon as I heard about JJBs scheme, I knew it was something I wanted to get involved in," Pinsent told reporters at a store in Slough on Tuesday.
"Just taking a quick look around my house revealed huge numbers of unwanted sports shoes that we had lying around, taking up valuable cupboard space.
"Being able to dispose of them in an environmentally friendly way, for a financial incentive, and also knowing that helping raise invaluable funds for Whizz-Kidz at the same time well, it couldn't really tick any more boxes if it tried!"
JJB estimates that if all the unwanted trainers and sports shoes that are currently lying around British homes were recycled via this scheme it could save Brits a staggering £283,475,000, as well as saving around 59 million pairs from going to landfill.
With the average pair of trainers in JJB sports costing £29, the £5 money-off voucher consumers will receive in exchange for their old shoes represents an average 17 percent off the price of a new pair.
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All profits that JJB makes from the sale of the unwanted shoes for re-use or recycling purposes will be passed onto the companys charity partner, Whizz-Kidz.
JJB chief executive Keith Jones added: "We know our customers want a great deal on sports footwear, and this scheme enables us to offer this while also helping the environment, and our partner charity Whizz-Kidz.
"We're delighted that sporting legends such as Matthew Pinsent, Michael Carrick and Mikel Arteta are helping us to raise awareness of the scheme, which we will be running for the foreseeable future to enable everyone to take advantage."
For more information on the new JJB sports footwear scheme visit www.jjbsports.com
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Nick Moore is a freelance journalist based on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. He wrote his first FourFourTwo feature in 2001 about Gerard Houllier's cup-treble-winning Liverpool side, and has continued to ink his witty words for the mag ever since. Nick has produced FFT's 'Ask A Silly Question' interview for 16 years, once getting Peter Crouch to confess that he dreams about being a dwarf.
