We believe that alternative methods of production are possible, where skilled, local people can put items back into use that would otherwise be discarded.
By buying a repaired, upcycled bike from us, you’re helping to create an alternative to the current ways of doing business that are driving our planet and its people to the edge. Thank you!
Every product or service we purchase has carbon emission and resource implications. For your repaired, recycled bike, emissions would be saved by:
- not transporting metal somewhere to be recycled
- not smelting down metal to be recycled into something new
- not manufacturing a new bike
- not transporting that new bike to the place where it will be sold.
However, some emissions will also be created, both because repaired bikes generally require at least some new parts, cabling, consumables etc, and because our workshop uses power for lighting, heating and power tools.
We use this calculator from Farnham Repair Cafe to determine the net emissions and resources saved by buying one of our recycled bikes. Here’s a link to the methodology they use.
You’re also creating social good by buying one of our bikes:
- Our trainees on work placement via the Tús and CE schemes gain valuable on the jo experience by fixing the bikes with oversight & teaching from our professional mechanics
- Our Local Training Initiative trains long term unemployed people in cycle mechanics and many of these learners are offered work placements in our shops
Not all discarded bikes can be saved. Many of them are so rusted or bent that they are unsafe. Any bike parts that are salvageable are removed and either used in bikes or provided for free for people to fix their own bikes at our DIY workshops (currently closed due to Covid but we hope to restart them soon).
We also have our old bike tyres recycled by Crossmore Tyres. Any left over metal material is sent to be recycled via the scrap metal stream.