A big thank you to everyone who recycled shoes at Keyishoes! We now have 120 pairs of shoes the majority in good condition and a few unworn!
That may not seem a lot but it gives me enormous pleasure to imagine that up to 120 people who don’t own shoes may get their first pair! These will be sent to developing countries to provide affordable footwear for those less fortunate than we are.
The shoes will be sorted and any that are beyond repair will be broken down and recycled into materials such as insulation. The rest are sent to developing countries where local people will refurbish them and then sell them providing employment opportunities and shoes for those who cannot afford new ones.
Over 330 million pairs of shoes end up in landfill in the UK each year! Despite the fact that our fellow humans in other countries are wearing flattened plastic bottles as shoes!
The materials in shoes may take many centuries to decompose. In fact, recently the BBC reported on a pair of leather shoes were found in a cave in Armenia that were thought to be 5500 years old!! That’s 400 years older than stone henge and 1000 years older than the pyramids in Giza! So do you agree it’s worth thinking about what we do with our shoes when we have finished with them?
5500 Year Old Shoe
Traditional shoe repairs have been on the decline over the last 3 or 4 decades as we have moved to a throw away society. Even so shoe repairers keep about 62 million pairs of shoes out of landfill each year. Shoe repairers are actually benefiting from the current economic climate as people find their budget restricted and so seek to keep their shoes longer. But really, isn’t it time we thought about repairing shoes and in fact other items rather than renewing them, not just for money but to preserve our natural resources and avoid further damage to our planet.
Of course, the shoes we wear are just the start, but what a great way to start! Remember, repairing & recycling: reduces landfill, reduces the use of precious natural resources, creates employment and provides affordable shoes for developing countries and repairing saves us money too!
Our shoe recycling bin is located outside our mobile trailer shop permanently positioned in the Homebase /PC World Car Park, Kngstown, Carlisle. Please take some time to collect together any unwanted shoes in any condition and recycle them with us. Recycling your shoes also supports the Children’s Variety Club Charity. http://www.varietyclub.org.uk/
For more info on how your shoes will be recycled click this link: http://www.europeanrecycling.co.uk/erc/
Keyishoes – Save Your Shoes|Save Money|Save the Environment
Immobilizer Faults – Can we help?
Yesterday was a particularly busy day, but a number of enquiries were related to immobilizer or ECU faults rather that key related issues.
At Keyishoes, our main service is that of programming spare keys or new keys when the originals are lost. But what if there is another vehicle problem which seems to point to immobiliser issues? I’ll give you some examples from yesterday:
In 2 out of the 3 cases above the key was not the problem. However, we were still able to assist in a small but valuable way. Some vehicle problems are difficult to trace without expensive dealer diagnostics. In such cases, sometimes a process of elimination is a cost effective option before approaching the dealer. This is how we were able to help with the 3 vehicles above.
Renault Clio Key
Immobilizer or Key Fault?
We could not! We checked the fuses which were all intact. I checked the function of the electrics and discovered that a number of the lights were not illuminating on the dashboard. They weren’t which indicates that this is where the fault may lie. Perhaps the dashboard clocks are faulty? This is linked to the immobilizer on VAG based vehicles. The customer has now eliminated the possibility of a key fault and can go with a certain amount of confidence to a specialist which we recommended to trace the original fault and effect a repair.
So no, we cannot repair immobilizer faults but can check whether the problem is a simple key programming issue and offer clues to the likely problems. This service is available at a modest £50 call out fee withing 3 miles of Carlisle City Center, deducted from the price of the key if that is found to be at fault. The service can be provided further afield with a £1 per mile mileage subsidy. Call Simon on 07808 793 418