An organisation called TreadLightly has been doing a spot of research.

This research found that the average Australian owns about five pairs of shoes they don't wear.

That's 100 million pairs of unused shoes in our cupboards, folks.

A quarter of the survey respondents hang on to their old shoes "for a rainy day or sentimental reasons".

Half the respondents confessed to throwing unwanted shoes in the rubbish.

TreadLightly - a new industry-led national recycling initiative run by the Australian Sporting Goods Association and Save Our Soles - is confronting this problem.

It is taking unwanted sports and active lifestyle shoes and recycling them into mats and flooring for retail stores, gyms and playgrounds.

"This research highlights just how many shoes are collecting dust at home, and how many shoes end up in the rubbish because we don't know what else to do with them," said Australian Sporting Goods Association executive director Shaun Bajada.

Bajada said it was a national problem of "significant environmental concern", with shoe components taking more than 1000 years to break down.

"TreadLightly exists to solve a very real industry issue. We're committed to working closely with retailers, manufacturers and consumers to reduce the industry's environmental footprint and stop millions of shoes ending up as landfill every year."

More than 110 million shoes are imported to Australia each year, 25 million of which are sporting and athletic lifestyle footwear.

TreadLightly is calling on Australians to help reach its goal of recycling more than one million pairs of shoes by 2023.

"All you need to do is look around your home for any unwanted sports or active lifestyle shoes - from sneakers and trainers to golf shoes - and take them into one of our 400-plus participating retailers to be recycled when your state opens up."

Women are more likely to keep shoes they don't wear, holding onto an average of seven pairs - while men keep about three pairs.

And more than half of females buy shoes every six months or more, with most owning an average of 11 pairs.

TreadLightly works with the likes of Adidas, The Athletes Foot, Nike, New Balance, Platypus, Hush Puppies, SportsPower and Rebel Sport. We're glad to hear that because corporations need to be responsible for the waste they create in a fair dinkum circular economy.

So ... if the shoe fits, wear it.

This from Boolaroo's Col Maybury: An Englishman and an Irishman went into a bakery to get some lunch.

When the owner's back was turned, the Englishman grabbed three buns and stuffed them in his pocket, saying "How's that for a neat trick?"

The Irishman said he could do one better. He said to the owner: "Sir, would you like to see a magic trick?"

"Yes", the owner replied.

"Well, hand me one of those buns," the Irishman said.

The owner did so. The Irishman ate it and asked for another bun and then another.

As the Irishman finished his third bun, the owner was visibly irate.

"Where is the magic trick?" he said, with anger in his voice.

"Look in the Englishman's pocket," the Irishman said.

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