CLEAN CLIMBER REcycle

Climbing shoe recycling

Did you know that only in the Netherlands, roughly 80.000 kg of climbing shoes are thrown away every year? We’re going to stop this from happening, by collecting the worn climbing shoes at various gyms in the Netherlands (see the map below). We started the research on how to recycle them, because as of now there is no existent shoe recycling in the world. We’ve successfully developed a fitness floor to be used in the fitness area of climbing gyms. We’re talking now with climbing shoe manufacturers to start using this granulate in new climbing shoes to close the loop.

The Clean Climber Foundation works together with gyms, where climbers can drop off their worn shoes. The worn shoes are transported to Fast Feet Grinded, who recycles and separates the materials. About half the weight of a climbing shoe is made from rubber, this material is shredded and transported to Stockz. Stockz is blending worn car tire rubber and climbing shoe rubber to produce fitness flooring for climbing gyms. If you’re interested in acquiring this sports mat for your gym flooring, please email us. Since the start of 2024 our partner The Bin has taken over this program, as this program became too big for our small foundation to handle.

The Clean Climber Tile is a proven product that is used to satisfaction at, among other climbing gyms: Monk Rotterdam, Rijnboulder Arnhem and Klimzaal Bleau in Ghent. If you’re interested in a gym floor in the exercise area of your gym, email us for more information: hello@cleanclimber.com.

A big thank-you goes out to Monk, who always have and still support Clean Climber in many ways in making our sport sustainable.

MONK

Climbing gyms

So which are the climbing gyms that are taking the lead in joining us in our recycling program? See the map above. For climbing gyms wanting to join our program, please email us.