Rethinking Tires as Trash

Recycled tires present a huge problem in worldwide landfills, particularly in South East Asia. Tires take over 80 years to degrade and do so with a lot of noxious fumes. Furthermore, tires are breeding grounds for mosquitoes that bring malaria and Dengue fever to hot and humid weather communities. There were 80 million cases of Dengue Fever last year alone. Dengue Fever is a particularly insidious disease because unless treated early and regularly, is cause for certain death.

GreenSoul Shoes' mission is to shoe underprivileged children around the world in an eco-beneficial fashion. We do this by working with local artisans to make a 100% upcycled sandal (a sandal made entirely out of recycled tires and inner tubes). For each one sold, we give one back to the community that made the sandals for us. GreenSoul Soul recently donated the first batch of shoes to school children from the Philippine Christian Foundation in Navotas City, Philippines.

GreenSoul Shoes was recently voted as a top 20 finalist in the 2009 Forbes Business Plan Boost Your Business Plan competition. This is a national competition and is probably the nation's premier business plan competition.

To make it to the top 5, we need your votes. You can watch our video and vote here.