The footwear will be given to Nike Reuse-a-Shoe, National Geographic Kids explains

Feb 7, 2013 08:36 GMT  ·  By
National Geographic Kids' readers collect 16,407 recyclable shoes, set new world record
   National Geographic Kids' readers collect 16,407 recyclable shoes, set new world record

This past Tuesday, National Geographic Kids went public with the news that they had succeeded in collecting a total of 16,407 recyclable shoes.

The shoes will soon be given to Nike Reuse-a-Shoe and used to manufacture athletic surfaces such as basketball courts.

In all fairness, the shoes were not collected by the magazine itself, but by green-oriented youngsters who agreed to lend a helping hand to the environment by gathering all the recyclable shoes they managed to get their hands on and sending them to the National Geographic Kids' offices in Washington.

Interestingly enough, some of the shoes in this pile belong to celebrities. Thus, rumor has it that Taylor Swift and NFL quarterback Eli Manning have also donated some of their footwear to this green-oriented project. Empower Network reports that Mike Janela, who counted the footwear on behalf of the Guinness World Records organization, could not help but admit that collecting this many recyclable shoes was indeed a rather amazing record.