Related to the previous clothing topic, anyone know what to do with old shoes?  Broken down, worn to the end of their life shoes. 

I know schools sometimes collect the tennis shoes for making playground grounds out of, unfortunately where I work did it 2 years ago and I don't know when a local school will have another drive.  I took some in, but hadn't found the shoe graveyard yet.

I also have half a dozen or so pairs of casual flats. 

Anything have anything useful to do with these? Preferably that doesn't cost me money to ship them places?

I've seen people make old boots and stuff into planters.

If the bottoms still have designs, I've heard of people using them as rubber stamps.

oops, double post. ^.^'

I've seen people donate shoes (that don't have any holes) to the big donation boxes (like amvets) - I've been told that clothing and shoes in most of those donation boxes get shipped overseas to needy communities.

Soles4Souls, Inc. will take your old shoes & donate them to third world countries, etc .  You do need to pay postage to get your shoes to them - a minimal expense.  Or I think they have donation sites across the U.S..  www.soles4souls.org

Soles4Souls looks neat if I decide to finally clear out shoes I don't wear rather than ones I've completely worn out.

Athletic shoes and Livestrong bracelets can be recycled through Nike Reuse-a-Shoe.  Details here http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/get-involved/individual-shoe-recycling .  You can mail them or find a drop off location at that address.

They use the shoes for making surfaces for tracks, tennis courts and the padding under basketball courts.

In case anyone else cares, I found one of the local charities has a deal with a company that buys clothing and such from them by the pound.  (They send the stained and torn and such things that they get there and get a little bit of money for them).   They take non-high-heel shoes, so I took them my bag of shoes.  Since I could tell them it was all just junk they were happy to take it--they just tossed it in the pile and it's a little bit more money for them.

I'm so glad I found this thread! I have so many old pairs of shoes that I would like to get rid of but that are still in great condition. Thanks for posting this everyone!

Share Your Soles(shareyoursoles.org)  is a nonprofit that collects gently used shoes and distributes them to the needy in the U.S. and worldwide. They can provide you with information on how to hold shoe drives/fundraisers. However, you have to figure out a way to get shoes to their sorting center outside Chicago. Their teen volunteers wash sneakers and polish dress shoes.

Kayote,

    I think the clothing sold by the poundd usually gets bundled into bales, sent to poorer countries and sold in open air markets. Even though we  might find it unwearable, people in other places might be glad to get it, and at a price they can afford.