Singapore's minister of culture announced on Monday that a shoe recycling programme will be subject to surprise inspections following an investigation by Reuters that revealed footwear it donated to the scheme was not recycled.
Dow Inc (DOW.N), an American petrochemicals company, and Sport Singapore, a Singaporean government agency, had committed to grind the shoes into playgrounds and running tracks.
Using position trackers concealed into the soles of shoes, the investigation determined that sneakers given by Reuters in Singapore had been shipped to Indonesia for resale.
This violated Indonesia's 2015 prohibition on such methods, which was enacted for sanitary reasons and to preserve the country's textile sector.
Dow and Sport Singapore initiated an inquiry after receiving Reuters' findings and subsequently cancelled the contract of Yok Impex, a local textile exporter subcontracted to collect shoes from donation bins.
After the February 25 publication of the news, they released a statement apologizing for a "lapse" in their recycling supply chain.
In response to a parliamentary inquiry, Minister for Culture, Community, and Youth Edwin Tong stated, "From what we can see, the findings of the probe were the result of a loose system."
In addition to unannounced inspections of the contractors contracted to collect the shoes, exporters of textiles and footwear will no longer be employed.
"The project partners have made efforts to tighten the process chain," said Tong, adding that lessons learned would be shared with other recycling initiatives in Singapore.
As a result of Reuters' findings, Indonesia stated this month that it will intensify customs checks at tiny ports in order to crack down on the illicit import of secondhand shoes.
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