Recycle-a-Bicycle and Plan B
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 11.18.05
A TH reader, going by the name Wookosh, of NY, asked a while back where he might drop off his old bicycle inner tubes, and such forth, for recycling or reuse. Hadn’t really found a answer for him when these guys came to our attention. If they dunno, who would? For over a decade Recycle-a-Bicycle (RAB) have been “dedicated to youth development, environmental education, recycling and bicycle transportation in New York City.” They accomplish this through bike repair and maintenance courses for 10 to 18 year olds. After participating through three quarters of such a workshop, students can "Earn-A-Bike" on sweat-equity and spend the remaining time doing it up. That’s the program in a nutshell, though it’s heaps more comprehensive. But we wanted to take the opportunity to alert you to a relationship Recycle-a-Bicycle have with a like-minded organsation in New Orleans, known as Plan B — the Community Bike Project. Between the two them they are looking to raise funds to get more bike mechanics on the ground, so more salvaged bikes can hit the streets of hurricane ravaged New Orleans. Both seem to be genuine programs, with highly altruistic leanings, very worthy of any greenbacks you can spare. ::Recycle-a-Bicycle and ::Plan B
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For those of you in the Boston/Cambrdige area, Bike Not Bombs is a very similar organization. They accept bike donations, run a repair shop, teach adult mechanic classes, have a great Adopt-a-Bike program with the local community, and ship bikes to organizations all over the world (the most recent was a shipment of ~500 bikes to Ghana in western Africa).
If you're interested in bikes, I would recommend showing up for a volunteer session there (Wednesdays 7-10pm). It's a lot of fun, cool people, and you get your hands dirty. ;)
Cheers,
~nepharis
Thankfully there's organizations like this popping up all over the country. In Pittsburgh there's Free Ride, which is a division of Bike Pgh.org. Great grass roots organizations, both of them. Happy riding and happy recycling.
j
Also FYI, Recycle-a-bike in Providence, RI has a very similar program.
In addition to Sean's comment, there are lots of Earn-A-Bike programs all over the US (and in other countries too). I've been to nice one in Portland, OR. And I know that MassBike has one in Worcester. Though the Bikes Not Bombs one is the best, I think. They were partially responsible for starting (or at least inspiring) the idea of Critical Mass.
Here's a list I just found of Earn-A-Bike programs all over the place: www.ibike.org/encouragement/youth-directory.htm. Enjoy!
here's the PDX link:
Community Cycling Center
well that's irritating. don't know why the html won't work. here 'tis: http://www.communitycyclingcenter.org
What caught my eye was the comment regarding recycling inner tubes. I wonder if anyone has heard of a recycling program for tires and could pass that information along?
We have a very similar community program in Edmonton Alberta Canada, called Edmonton Bicycle Commuters' Society. The program has a shop called Bikeworks, where folks can come and fix their bicycles, acquire parts for bicycles or bicycles in general, build bikes, hang with bikey folks, etc.
As you might imagine, we have an excess of inner tubes and tires, and would like someway to recycle them.
looking forward to hearing from you. ta k
I dont have the website onhand, but there is a company who makes messenger bags from the inner tubes. If you do a search on tyre recycling they will come up. There is also many bike art websites. It is interesting to see what can be made. Hope this helps, Karen.
Ok, so riding a bike is environmentally friendly .... but where can you get an environmentaly-friendly-made bike?
Or is buying a bike and riding it instead of driving the lesser of two evils?
Hello,
I want to have infor on poeple who has used bicycle parts in their shop and ware houses that I can buy from. I am from ghana west Africa and I will like to work with any one interested to work with me.
Thanks and hope to hear from will.
+233 243217456
HI,
I'm from Chennai, India.
I'm interested to know how to recycle tire inner tubes(to make rubber sheets).
I have some ideas to make useful items out of the rubber sheets thus obtained.
As I'm a layman with respect to rubber or recycling industry If somebody could give some links on this it will be very helpful.
Thanks in advance.