ENGINEERING TECHNICAL COMMUNICATIONS

(GENG8000)

TEAM ASSIGNMENT: PROJECT PROPOSAL/PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

[PROJECT TEAM: 1]

SUBMITTED BY:

BHARATHKUMAR VIJAYAKUMAR [110080290]

DHIKSHITHA VENKATESH [110082511]

DIVYA BHATRAJU [110076489]

INSTRUCTOR:

DON BOURNE
 INTRODUCTION:

Sneakers are known to be the friendliest and casual type of footwear. They were first designed
for sports and other forms of physical exercise, but they are widely used for everyday casual
wear in this contemporary era. In the mid-20th century, these sneakers were popularized, and
Asia was the top manufacturer of these sneakers. In Australia, Canada, and British English,
sneakers are also called tennis shoes and runners [1]. Coming to the statistics of sneakers, they
grew more than 35% for the last six months of 2021 compared to 2020, and around 23%
compared with 2019 [2]. These widely produced sneakers impact the environment because of
the synthetic materials and leather used in the manufacturing process. So, we would like to
modify the manufacturing process using garbage, which can be recyclable, and to maintain
sustainability with Responsible consumption and production [goal 12], life below water [goal
14], and life on land [goal 15]. We choose a cleaner and safer environment by using recycled
materials in our sneakers.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:

Material Impact on the Environment:

Fig 1: Material composition in an average shoe (%wt) [5].

The footwear business is accountable for 1.4 % of worldwide GHG emissions, consistent with
a study by Quantis [3]. This can be a staggering data point, particularly considering that air
travel accounts for 2.5 % of global emissions. Therefore, with the footwear business continuing
to expand, unless additional changes are made towards sustainability, the impacts on the
environment are solely set to urge worse. Sneakers contain poisonous chemicals that are released
into the surroundings throughout its production. They are disposed of in risky ways, like
combustion or dumped into land, exposing the environment to toxic substances. “It takes up to
forty years for a shoe to start out to decompose in landfill” [4]. The foremost common materials
used for producing sneakers are animal skin, natural rubber, fiber, canvas, plastic, nylon,
denim, foam, and polyester. Material composition in an average shoe (%wt) is shown above [5].
SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Goal-12 Ensure sustainable consumption and
production patterns:
Once the sneakers are discarded for being untrendy or worn out, they are dumped in the landfill.
It is important to notice that the waste from the footwear industry is not just from the shoe but
also from the supply chain. Synthetic materials used in sneakers are harmful to the
environment. Moreover, the phases that go in making sneakers are harmful chemicals, oils used
for raw material extraction and the amount of plastic used has a high environmental impact.
Around 300 million pairs of sneakers end up in landfills every year [6]. The chemicals and
glues used to make these shoes are released into the environment and affect soil, water, and air
[6]. So, it is essential to take significant steps towards responsible consumption and production
(SDG Goal 12) in manufacturing sneakers.

SDG Goal 14: Life Below Water (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and
marine resources for sustainable development)
About 71% of the earth's surface is occupied by oceans, which hold 97% of the earth’s water.
The remaining 3% is present as water in ponds, streams, glaciers, ice caps, and as water vapour
in the atmosphere [7]. Release of plastic waste into water resources results in shattered debris,
generating microscopic particles called microplastics. The reduced size of microplastic makes
it easier for intake by aquatic organisms, resulting in the addition of noxious wastes, thereby
disturbing their physiological functions. About 54.5% of microplastics floating in the ocean are
polyethylene, and 16.5% are polypropylene, and the rest include polyvinyl chloride,
polystyrene, polyester, and polyamides [7]. Almost 700 aquatic species in the world have been
adversely affected by the introduction of microplastics, including sea turtles, penguins, and
other crustaceans [7]. Using recycled materials in sneaker production contributes to reducing
the amount of plastic waste getting dumped into the oceans.

SDG Goal 15: Life on Land (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial
ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land
degradation and halt biodiversity loss)
Plastic buried deep in landfills will leach harmful chemicals that unfold into groundwater.
About 4% of oil produced in the world is used as fuel to create plastics, and an equivalent
quantity is consumed as energy within the method [8]. If plastic waste is burned, it releases
carbon-dioxide and other harmful gases (from landfills) into the atmosphere, thereby increasing
emissions [9]. Chemicals released by plastics are absorbed by human bodies. A number of these
compounds are found to change hormones or produce other potential human health effects [9].
When animals consume plastic, the chemicals released by the plastic turns out to be poisonous
and these chemicals are then transferred to the food cycle when the affected animals are
consumed by other living things. Sometimes the plastic blocks the animal's stomach and ends
its life by starvation.

REFERENCES:
[1].“Interesting facts about sneakers,” Just Fun Facts | Fun and interesting site, 19-Jun-2021.
[Online]. Available: http://justfunfacts.com/interesting-facts-about-sneakers/. [Accessed: 28-
Feb-2022].
[2].“Athletic footwear & apparel industry - first half sales results,” The NPD Group, 30-Jul-
2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.npd.com/news/blog/2021/sneakernomics-first-half-
2021-athletic-footwear-and-apparel-recap/. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2022].

[3].“Vegan Shoes,” Grinninggoat.ca. [Online]. Available:

https://www.grinninggoat.ca/blogs/blog/vegan-shoes-a-buying-guide. [Accessed: 28-Feb-
2022].

[4]. “Recycling with Sole,” Waste360, 01-Apr-2010. [Online]. Available:

https://www.waste360.com/Recycling_And_Processing/shoe-recycling-201004. [Accessed:
28-Feb-2022].
[5].Researchgate.net. [Online]. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Material-
Composition-in-Average-Shoe-wt-The-footwear-industry-over-the-last-20-
years_fig1_319873669#:~:text=In%202017%2C%20the%20correspondent%20amounts,and
%20fabrics%E2%80%94only%204.5%25. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2022].
[6].S. Kuriakose, “Walk the green way,” India Today, 08-Jun-2019. [Online]. Available:
https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/walk-the-green-way-1544704-2019-06-08.
[Accessed: 28-Feb-2022].
[7].M. N. Issac and B. Kandasubramanian, “Effect of microplastics in water and aquatic
systems,” Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int., vol. 28, no. 16, pp. 19544–19562, 2021.
[8]. J. A. Knoblauch, “Plastic manufactured in the first 10 years of this century eclipses the
total produced in the entire last century,” EHN, 01-Feb-2022. [Online]. Available:
https://www.ehn.org/plastic-environmental-impact-2501923191/plastic-manufactured.
[Accessed: 28-Feb-2022].

[9].“Marine plastic pollution,” IUCN, 25-May-2018. [Online]. Available:

https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/marine-plastic-pollution. [Accessed: 28-Feb-
2022].