Are Crocs Recyclable?
Discuss contemporary 21st-century fashion and you can’t but talk about fashionable and attractive footwear. Footwears form a very important part of our fashion and can make or mar your dressing. Footwear trends come and go, but one type of footwear that has become quite popular and has stuck with us are Crocs.
There are many reasons accountable for this continued and unabating popularity. For one, Crocs are very fashionable. They complement your casual dressing almost perfectly. Crocs are also versatile. So far your outfit is casual and non-formal, you should trust your crocs to match quite well. They are also very convenient to own, use and manage.
However, as crocs have become wildly popular and adopted in several places, their use has thrown up some issues. As you know, no footwear lasts forever and after some time, they deteriorate and cannot be used any longer. When this happens, the thing for most people to do is to dispose of them.
This disposal of Crocs highlights major issues surrounding their environmental friendliness. As a reader, this is likely something that has been of concern to you. You love your comfortable and elegant Crocs, but you are concerned as to how they may harm your environment.
As a result of this, in this piece, we will examine this all-important topic that may have been bordering you for some time.
In this light, we will be considering the following questions; Are Crocs harmful to the environment? Are they biodegradable? Can you recycle crocs? How best is it to dispose of your Crocs? These and more will be answered in this post. We have packed this with high-quality information that you just can’t afford to miss. As a result, relax and pay attention as we bring top-level helpful content to you.
Can You Recycle Crocs?
As it is currently, it appears that the popularity of Crocs is not just one of those footwear trends that we have grown used to. It very much is the case that Crocs are not going anywhere soon. They are simply here to say. In fact, all evidence points to the fact that they are getting even more popular with everyone.
We see fashion and footwear companies leveraging this trend to create varying versions of Crocs. This raises the concern about what we can do with them when it is time for the Crocs to be disposed of. In short, can you recycle your Crocs?
The very short answer to this is, “No.” You cannot recycle Crocs just the way it is difficult to recycle plastic and other related materials used in making footwear.
The reason for this is quite straightforward.
Many persons think that Crocs’ footwears are made of rubber because the texture seems as if they are made of rubber. However, that is not the case. Crocs are made out of a material known as the CrosliteTM. The Croslite is a proprietary resin material produced by Crocs, Inc the manufacturers and distributors of the Crocs brand.
The Croslite is neither entirely made of rubber nor does it contain plastic. The foam resin material is made of a polymer known as ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA). EVA has some properties of plastic. And since plastic of this type is not really recyclable, products made with EVA are not recyclable as well. Chief amongst those products are Crocs.
There are some factors that explain the reason why the EVA is used in producing the Croslite, and therefore your Crocs. For one, the Croslite gives the Crocs elastomeric qualities. This makes it quite elastic and thus makes it easy for you to wash your Crocs seamlessly. We know this is something you really like about your Crocs.
The Crosslite also makes your Crocs non-absorbent and therefore resistant to damage from water as against many other footwear materials. All these abilities combined make the reaching of your crocs impossible.
So, if you have been previously planning to dump your old crocs in the recycling bin, thinking that it would be recycled, you might want to have a rethink about it. Doing this does not achieve anything. For all that matters, it might even end up in the landfill, since the recycling company will be excluding it from their recyclable materials.
Are Crocs Environmentally Friendly?
Before we can answer the question of whether Crocs are environmentally friendly, we have to examine what makes a product, thing or activity environmentally friendly or not. It is from this perspective that we can determine whether Crocs are friendly to the environment. Let’s do this!
Generally, a product is not environmentally friendly if before, during or most importantly, after its use, it causes harm to the environment in any way. For crocs, they are made of a foam resin material known as Croslite. The Croslite is made of chemicals that contain elements of plastic which as we have explained above, is harmful to the environment. This material is what prevents the recycling of crocs in your local recycling station.
Aside from this, because crocs are made of special materials, they may have difficulty breaking down in the landfill. This, on its own, raises questions about crocs and their effects on the environment.
For instance, while they remain in the landfill, due to their lightweight, they could be carried away by the flood and end up in the aquatic area. Here, they can pollute the environment and even poison the water through their release of toxic materials. This will, invariably, harm the aquatic animals.
If the foregoing is anything to go by, then we can say, “No.” Crocs are not environmentally friendly.
Do Crocs Decompose?
Though humans, plants and animals decompose after their death and get absorbed naturally into the environment, however, for non-natural products, the issue is a bit more complicated. This is because not all of these materials can be broken down naturally.
The implication is that they almost never decompose and thus the chemical components are always out there. This is quite harmful to the environment, and sadly, crocs are one of these non-natural materials that are difficult to decompose. The reason for this? We have it here for you.
Crocs belong to this class of products that cannot decompose. This is basically a result of the materials such as the ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) of which it is made. This ethylene-vinyl acetate has been especially used to make crocs so that the crocs can fit the purpose for which they are made. While this is good, this, however, affects the environment adversely.
Crocs remaining in the landfill for a considerable number of years could signify the potential of the immediate aquatic environment being polluted. Crocs are lightweight, and as such can be easily blown away by heavy wind or washed to undesired places by the flood.
This on its own is bad, but to give you some glimpse of hope, you can expect your crocs to decompose if it is exposed to the right environmental conditions. This way, rather than taking extremely long years before decomposing, you can be sure your crocs will break down in a relatively short time.
Are Crocs Biodegradable?
Above, we mentioned that as a result of the materials used to make crocs, they cannot decompose. It simply follows that the answer to this question is, “No.” Crocs are not biodegradable.
Also, since decomposing suggests the same meaning as biodegrading, the reason that applies in the preceding segment would apply here too.
This state of things might be devastating, as it is almost clear that old crocs have nowhere else to go but the landfill. And, if you think about the fact that even in the landfill, they hardly decompose, you would be more concerned about the future of the environment.
But then, does this have to be? It is the nature of humans to always find new ways to things. This is why the following segment exposes you to few things you can do with your old crocs rather than throwing them away.
What To Do With Old Crocs?
There will always be things you can do with old possessions. The probable reason you are not considering these innovative things is that you can’t place a finger on the exact thing to make with your old possession. This seems to be the case for crocs. But then, you don’t have to worry anymore. In this segment, you will get to know the innovative things to do.
1. Use As Plant Holders: There are some situations that occur in your garden, and you just wish you know the right thing to do. One of such is your fragile plants not standing erect. With your crocs, you can say adieu to this kind of occurrence. Because crocs are lightweight, you don’t need to fear it crushing your plants.
2. Use As Pencil Holders: Your crocs look just like half-covering footwear, so you can always convert them to pencil holders. This will help your kids to arrange their writing materials and know where to go when they need them.
3. Make Art Materials: One thing you can’t find about your crocs is the fact that they have nice textures where paintwork can be done. You can design it creatively and place it in strategic places in your home or offices. This will aid the aesthetic appearance of your place.
4. Donate Them: One other very brilliant idea as to the use of your old Crocs is to give them away to charity. There are several charity organizations that can help you with this. One of such that we highly recommend is Soles4Souls.
Soles4Souls is a social enterprise committed to collecting used footwear and sharing them with people in need. They have a partnership with Crocs Inc on Crocs footwear. What Soles4Souls does is that they thoroughly clean and properly revamp the Crocs to a point where they are neat and can be worn again. They then send them off to countries and peoples that need them.
Conclusion
No matter how well you love your Crocs, there comes a time when you have to part with it. After some time, the Crocs become old and it may not be ideal for you to use it any longer. As a result, you start to wonder what to do with it next.
As we have proven already, openly disposing of it might not be a good idea. This is because of the potential harm the Crocs may have on our environment. You can always repurpose them for different creative uses. You can also donate them to charity and help those that might be in dire need of footwear.
Sources:
https://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Crocs_Recycling
