TSMC Has Been Turning Its Silicon Waste Into Eco-Friendly Shoes

E-Waste is a major issue within the industry and I’m sure many of you have a little box filled with old hardware or cables that will “come useful one day”, but we all know it never will, or if it does it will be right after you finally decide to get rid of it. Our personal E-Waste is just small fry in the grand scheme of things, large companies are the bigger culprits though many, are making an effort to combat it, such as Ccilu, by creating shoes using TSMC’s silicon waste.

TSMC Shoes Made From Silicon Waste

Ccilu is a company that has been using the silicon waste from TSMC to create eco-friendly footwear as reported by Focus Taiwan (Via TomsHardware). The company uses the waste silicon form TSMC and have created both pressure relief slippers, which they launched last year, as well as massage slippers and sports shoes which were launched this year. The company was founded back in 2012 by CEO Wilson Hsu who formerly worked as an executive with Citibank. They have a bit of a history of eco-friendly footwear including materials such as coffee grounds and recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottles which included shoes and rainboots both released back in 2020.

The shoes created from silicon waste aren’t directly created alongside TSMC, rather a silicon waste treatment partner Semisils Applied Materials Corp, who approached Hsu about the idea. Utilising the waste in shoes rather than leaving it in landfill has netted some positive environmental impacts which include a reduction of crude oil consumption by 0.5l and reduced carbon emissions by 1KG per pair of shoes.

On the Ccilu website you can view the full range of products that the company offers including deliveries within the US though they don’t seem to ship outside of the US. The footwear that actually uses the silicon waste isn’t 100% obvious on the site, but it appears to be the Stepping Stones Rovmia sandals which are currently available for $41.40. These sandals use acupressure pods to massage your feet, all the details are in the video below.