Timberland’s Earthkeepers line of footwear has a new role model: the Earthkeepers 2.0 boot, designed to be taken down to its parts and recycled or reused at the end of its life. The apparel and footwear company launched the Earthkeepers line in 2007, with requirements for recycled, organic and renewable material and solvent-free adhesives. The new boot takes the sustainability commitment a step further, designed with soles made from discarded rubber tires, via a partnership with Green Rubber Inc., and to be disassembled and returned to any Timberland store for recycling. It will be available this fall.
Eighty percent of the Earthkeepers 2.0 boot can be recycled or reused: the leather is refurbished at a Timberland facility in the Dominican Republic, the Green Rubber soles are sent to a plant in Georgia for recycling, removable metal hardware can be reused in new footwear or recycled and polyester lining can be recycled into new polyester products.
The soles are composed of a blend of Green Rubber compound and virgin rubber through Green Rubber’s DeLink technology, for which the company was recently awarded a Global Green product design honor, Timberland says. Green Rubber is owned by The Petra Group of Kuala Lumpur and its U.S. office is located in Ohio. By 2012, Green Rubber intends to recycle the equivalent of more than 200 million discarded tires every year.
By partnering with Green Rubber in the Earthkeepers line production, Timberland expects to displace 42 tons of virgin rubber with recycled tire rubber. -Vivi Gorman/greenandsave
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