The Recyclery: A Tale of Two Cities and Two Wheels
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 05. 1.08
Great minds think alike ... Here we have two organisations, almost on different sides of a country, doing much the same thing, with the same name.
The Recyclery, in Evanston, Illinois, a non-profit collective, seeks to build community through the restoration of donated and discarded bicycles. “With these bikes we offer a sustainable form of transportation at little to no cost. We wish to further open ourselves and our resources to the community at large with programs that teach bicycle maintenance, safety, and ecological sustainability."
At the Recyclery Bicycle Shop in Portland, Oregon they buy, sell, trade, and barter bicycle related items. “We are not a co-op, but an emerging business as a way of life. We are run by reusing & rebuilding unnew bicycles; from modern to exotic, from frames to accessories, and everything in between.”
The former has just, this past weekend, had it’s monthly sale of bikes, as repaired and made roadworthy by volunteers. The latter has a shop where you could buy the the pictured Schwinn (right) for $200.
Both provide a valuable service to the broader community--getting low cost, salvaged and locally cared-for bicycles into the hands of people, who’ll find them a very economical, efficient and ecological form of transport. Plus they can learn skills in how to repair and refurbish these same magnificent machines.
Umm... there's the Bicycle Kitchen in Los Angeles, the Bikerowave in SantaMonica, the Bike Kitchen in San Francisco...
You might want to include a link to www.bikecollectives.org so people can find places doing this near them. This has been happening for a while, my friend.
Thanks Steve. Wasn't for a moment suggesting this was a new thing, or only happening in those cities. We've done umpteen stories, over the past four years, on such enterprises all across the globe.
Take for example: Re-Cycle and Village Bicycle, Recycle-a-Bicycle and Plan B, Rotary Runner, Bikes Not Bombs, Los Angeles Bicycle Kitchen, Bicimaquinas, and Worldbike. Oh and a story on Pedals for Progress, where we also mentioned the Working Bikes Cooperative, Bikes Across Borders, Bikes for the World, Drahtesel and the Bicycle Empowerment Network.
Hello! This is Sharlyn from Evanston's Recyclery. A nice addition to this post is the fact that last summer, when I was visiting Portland, I stopped by the Recyclery there to say hello, trade stickers and business cards, and meet the owner. He was super friendly and gave me a t-shirt, which confuses people around here.
We ocasionally get phone calls and/or emails for Recyclerys in OR, NC, and KS!