Coming Soon
Now your much-loved boots, clogs and sandals can continue their merry journey as recycled goods or sold second-hand.
Do you have some Merry People you no longer wear?
Our brand new recycling program is the perfect sustainable solution to ensure they step into another life, well after your adventures have ended.
Now you can donate your much-loved, well-worn, no longer used boots for recycling or resale to keep the merry momentum going and continue our sustainable journey together, step by step.
Why Is There A Merry People Recycling Program?
At Merry People, we want to make the world a merrier place, reducing waste in our entire supply chain, from first boot sketch to last steps.
Our new recycling program is a reflection of our brand values and how we do business. Cass, Head of Product, explains: “When we undertook the full Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) of our Bobbi Boot in 2023, one of the outcomes of our CO2 impact was our lack of knowledge of the end of life of our products,” she says. “As we are continually striving to reduce our environmental impact, our Recycling Program will help us track how many of our boots get resold or are recycled.”
By donating old, well-loved, now unworn boots, together we can keep the merry magic going, while reducing waste and taking further steps towards sustainability.
“The biggest aim is a CO2 reduction, but we also wanted our community to feel good about collecting boot colours as we know they do!” Cass adds.
How Does The Recycling Program Work?
We are so excited to be partnering with Save Our Soles and Save the Children.
Your donations – no matter what condition they are in – will be recycled into mats and flooring, or sold second-hand, thanks to their support.
“John Elliot, Founder of Save Our Soles, introduced us to Save the Children when we were trying to find a solution to offering drop points beyond our retail store to our community,” Cass explains. “The partnership made such sense to us. We know so many of our community love a good thrift fashion find, so we thought it a great opportunity for them to drop off boots and find a treasure, and support a truly worthy cause!”
Meet Our Partners:
Save Our Soles:
Save Our Soles (SOS) creates recycled flooring and mats using collected and donated shoes and tyres. With 20 billion shoes thrown away each year, SOS have already saved 500,000+ from landfill.
A big supporter of Merry People, SOS has recycled our discontinued boots for years, and now we are excited to be broadening the partnership.
Save the Children:
Save the Children believes in a circular economy and extending the life of donated items, with vital funds going towards building a fairer, safer world for every child. In 2024 alone, Save the Children reached 1.27 million people across Australia and around the world.
So, How Can I Get Involved?
It’s super easy! Just give your boots a good clean and drop them into our first-ever store in Melbourne, or at one of our various Save the Children drop spots across Australia.
1. At Our Retail Store: In Melbourne, Australia? Step into our first-ever retail store at Shop 2/11 Manchester Lane, Melbourne and speak to our merry team about dropping off your boots in our recycle bin.
2. At 8 Save the Children Op Shops: There are eight selected locations across Australia where you can find Merry People bins to drop off your boots, clogs and sandals.
What Are The Next Steps?
All boots, clogs and sandals will then be sorted and either recycled or donated to be resold secondhand, depending on their condition:
- Wearable Boots: If your boots are still in good condition, they can be resold through Save the Children Op Shops to find a home in another part of our Merry People community.
- Unwearable Boots: If your boots have seen too much wear and tear, they will be collected by Save Our Soles and recycled into gym matting and retail flooring.
“The best thing about this program involving Save the Children is that we are putting reuse before recycling,” says John. “The Merry People consumer can feel good knowing that the wearable footwear will be reused through sale to a second owner, and non-wearable styles will be recycled. This program maximises the benefit and minimises both the cost and impact.”
Want to learn more? Find FAQs, get more info, and locate our recycling spots here.
