Over 1 million people in Madagascar are on the brink of starvation. Years of drought have left many residents of the island nation scavenging for food in the wild and resorting to eating inedible substances including ash and clay. In particular, the combination of tamarind and shoe leather has been cited as a common meal to fight off hunger.
Unfortunately, a certain resident of Muncie, Indiana gave this no thought as he carelessly threw away his leather dress shoes after twenty years of wear. Kevin Phlansky, a retired traffic clerk, was caught on video throwing the old shoes in the dumpster. It went viral after being posted to Twitter. Many are calling for him to be forcibly unretired for throwing away the shoes whose leather could still be used by starving Malagasy men and women to convince themselves they are less hungry than they really are.
One particularly upset commenter wrote “This guy’s total lack of respect for the needy is emblematic of America’s values. Those people need to eat”. Phlansky responded in a brief interview in which he said that the anger is misplaced and pointed out that large corporations throw away thousands of shoes a day.
Many companies have found themselves caught in the crossfire. Foot Locker in particular has received attention for its practice of throwing away old shoes at the end of the month, sometimes even before the expiration date. Reportedly the company is now exploring how they can reroute these shoes to the Indian Ocean. If possible, it would provide Madagascar’s food insecure with an abundance of much needed shoe leather.