Barcelona“I wasn’t aware of the problem we have with the sneakers until I got home,” explains Max Romey. After climbing peaks halfway across the planet, this Alaskan adventurer read a report about the problem with one of his professional tools: running shoes. It is estimated that around 20 billion pairs of sneakers are sold worldwide each year. And 90% do not end up being recycled. The majority usually end up in landfills, and in many cases end up in the sea for different reasons. “People dumping them in landfills near the river, poor disposal practices… it can happen. But these slippers, on their own, would take millennia to disappear. So they float in the sea and end up in remote places “explains Romey, who developed a new sense: spotting abandoned sneakers. Back in Alaska, the region he came to with his parents when he was just an infant, he noticed that whenever he hiked and hiked, an old shoe appeared.
Romey was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child. In an education system that was then not fully prepared to deal with cases like his – he had difficulty learning to read and write – he created his own world based on images. He would begin to explore photography and video, and become a versatile young man capable of competing in mountain races, but especially drawing works inspired by nature. The next step would be to enter the world of documentaries, in which he became one of the great specialists when it comes to filming ascents to peaks and mountain races. Romey specialized in following athletes like Kilian Jornet, for example, climbing mountains with him and following him with a camera to film him competing. Visiting the five continents, he created his own discourse with a great ecological awareness. His latest project, in fact, has been carried out in collaboration with the sportswear brand NNormal, the project of his friend Kilian Jornet. The result was No lost shoesa film that highlights the problem with non-recycled sneakers.
“Human beings are not very well made, since we cannot go barefoot all the time like other animals. So we have to wear slippers,” says Kilian Jornet, with a joke that hides a great truth. “If you look at the material the sneakers are made of, you have to learn a lot of very long scientific words. They are very durable materials that allow Kilian to break records, but once we have to retire them… what happens to these sneakers ?Think about it, your sneakers from years ago must still be somewhere after you’ve gotten rid of them. And if they end up in the sea, they might be making their way to the coast of Alaska on one of the ocean currents,” he explains Romey.
The filmmaker decided to go to some of the most remote places in his land, such as Katmai Natural Park, where he had to sail for 12 hours to land on a lonely beach. The idea was very clear, to try to spend a few days in one of the areas furthest from any urban centre. Initially, a beautiful scene opened up in front of him, but once he started walking he found all kinds of debris that the sea had brought there. And, of course, there were sneakers. Unpaired, of course. Who knows where the other was! Romey, taking advantage of his trace, drew all the sneakers he found on that expedition. First he traced the sole on a blank sheet and then immortalized them. He would make hundreds of drawings, of all kinds.
One of the problems with sneakers is that it takes ages to break down, it’s a slow process. Little by little, parts of the sole can come off and leave small particles in the sea: microplastics, less than five millimeters. The danger in this case is that it is eaten by fish and therefore reaches humans. “The problem isn’t just sneakers, of course. Alaska has more coastline than the rest of the United States, with so many islands. And where you least expect it, a tire or a bottle pops up. But having worked in the racing world, sneakers is where we can and want to act,” says the 29-year-old American, who remembers the importance of recycling, since “if the waste ends up in big mountains of trash, a strong storm can take some of the material away and make it reach the sea, as it happens. You need to recycle it so as not to accumulate it, to give it a new life.”
For this reason, Romey and Nnormal have presented a campaign that invites everyone to recycle sneakers, clothing and sports accessories that they no longer use through the No Trace Program, where there are only three steps: gather all the material regardless of the brand and its state, attach a pre-paid shipping label, and arrive at a collection point. The list of collection points and selected stores can be consulted in advance on the nnormal.com website. The No Trace Program is available in Catalonia. “We all leave footprints, we try to make ours temporary and that our shoes don’t get lost”, explains Kilian Jornet in Romey’s documentary.
