Nike teams with Ant Group for Recycle-A-Shoe programme on Alipay platform

Nike has joined Ant Group’s Green Energy Initiative and launched an official mini programme on Alipay to encourage more consumers to recycle worn out shoes.

Chinese shoppers can search Recycle-A-Shoe in the Alipay app and have old Nike shoes collected for recycling.

These will then be dismantled and re-processed to make sustainable sport courts through Nike Grind technology.

By doing so, consumers will receive virtual green energy points in Alipay Ant Forest, a green mini programme. These can be used to support tree planting, ecological restoration or bio-diversity conservation projects.   

“In China, we continue to strive toward our goal of ‘Move to Zero’ and encourage the public to take part in environmental protection,” says Stanley Chang, Vice President of Operations and Logistics of Nike Greater China.

“The innovative cooperation with Ant Group allows our Recycle-A-Shoe programme to reach more consumers through digital solutions on the Alipay platform and incorporates our sustainability efforts into daily life, which is our long-term commitment.”

“In the face of increasing challenges brought on by climate change, the private sector needs to encourage more environmental-friendly actions among consumers while committing themselves to reducing carbon emission in their business operations,” says Cheng Jiang, General Manager of Social Good Department, Ant Group. 

“We are delighted to partner with Nike to promote low carbon actions and better protect the environment through innovative solutions in recycling.”

Recycle-A-Shoe has been active for 30 years.

More than 30 million pairs of worn out shoes and over 120 million pounds of footwear factory materials have been recycled and transformed into the likes of basketball courts, soccer fields, running tracks, yoga equipment and interior decoration.  

Launched in 2016, Alipay Ant Forest has attracted over 650 million participants. Users can gain green energy points for low carbon actions, including biking to work instead of driving and paying electricity bills online instead of offline. 

Ant Group’s Green Energy Initiative, which features green energy points in Alipay Ant Forest, is open to brands that want to offer their customers more incentives to take green actions.

As of August 2022, it has attracted participation from more than 500 brands across multiple sectors including travel, packaging and home appliance manufacturing.