Former England goalie visits Cramlington to back campaign to recycle 1 million old football boots

• Video from Utilita

Former England goalkeeper David James is leading a campaign to recycle a million pairs of football boots.

David James recently visited Cramlington to host a "Football Rebooted" Boot drop at the North of England football tournament.

Launched by Utilita, Football Rebooted is the beautiful game's biggest ever environmental movement. It encourages people to donate and claim pre-played football boots and Astro boots, to save families a small fortune, as well as 136,000 tonnes of carbon – the same as taking 7,000 cars off the road for a year, or turning the energy off in one million medium-sized houses for a week.

A ‘Boot Drop’ recycling point was open on both days of the football tournament in Cramlington, helping families to drop off unused, quality boots that have plenty of life left in them.

The Football Rebooted campaign was launched after Utilita’s State of Play report revealed that out of the 74 percent of families who had been impacted financially by the pandemic, 18 percent won’t be able to send their kids back to grassroots football as they can’t afford boots and other items such as goalkeeper gloves and shin pads.

First to donate a pair of boots was Blake Wallace, aged nine from Newburn, Newcastle – goalkeeper for Newcastle Blue Star F.C. Blake met former England and Premier League goalkeeper, David James MBE.

A group of young players from Red House Farm Eagles FC in Gosforth, Newcastle, also stopped by to donate boots.

As part of the campaign, schools can request boots be sent to them for children who need football boots to enable them to play in or outside of school.

The campaign has been supported by the Premier League and EFL clubs across the UK, with some first-team players donating their own boots in the interests of the environment and improving access for all.

To get involved visit the football rebooted website.