Well it's about stinkin' time they announced the 2006 Tour de France Winner! After all, the 2007 TdF is done and won. This whole thing is a huge fall from grace for Floyd Landis, but today's yellow jersey holder is a worthy recipient. Oscar Pereiro is the sixth Spanierd to win the TdF, with the first being Federico Bahamontes in 1959.
Congrats!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Blog Action Day: Recycling Scrap Steel
One of the things that's really important to us at Bikes For Tykes is to reuse and recycle materials that we come in contact with. Since we run on pretty much no money, it's just good business sense for us to find "second use" for things that are bike related. Sometimes that thing is the bike itself.
Let's face facts. Many of the bicycles in this country are built, purchased with good intentions, then hung in the garage for uncounted years. Some are used to death, and the owner doesn't have the skills to fix it. Others have weathered too much weather, displaying a coating of rust that can sometimes be impossible to remove. In the past, these soldiers of steel were "taken to the dump." Well, we just can't do that anymore.
As we become more aware of benefits provided by recycling, it's clear that throwing a bike away is just not the thing to do. Bikes For Tykes takes in donated bicycles, but doesn't rebuild every one. Some end up being parts bikes for others. And some bikes simply don't have anything of value and must be purged from the inventory. I don't see this as a strain, because I see it as an opportunity to clean up. We use recycling scrap steel as a solution for folks who don't know what to do with their old bikes. Plus it's an easy FREE way to keep our streets and back alleys clean of potentially hazardous broken bikes. In fact, according to a blog entry by Vicki Bell at The Fabricator, steel is one of the most recycled materials in the world - beating all others combined. This means less ore needs to be taken out of the earth. It also means that the rusty Huffy hanging in the rafters will one day be the fender to a Hyundai.
It's good to reuse stuff. It's something that is very important in our Bikes For Tykes program. Without it, if we were to use all brand new parts to build bikes for underprivileged kids, our costs would skyrocket and we would not have the ability to touch all the corners in our community. Recycling is a good idea. We do it every day.
So how does a person recycle scrap steel for free? It's not hard, if the industries are close by. In Western Washington, we're fortunate to have Arrow Metals in Woodinville that takes complete bikes (no disassembly required) and throws them on an enormous pile. Snohomish County also has scrap steel collection bins in at least two locations. The City of Seattle has a scrap steel bin at its Fremont facility. The more sources we find to recycle this material, the less we will need to use new material in the future. After all, it doesn't take virgin steel to make a Huffy...
So before throwing away that old metal fan or rusty trike, try to find a way to recycle it. It just makes good sense.
Let's face facts. Many of the bicycles in this country are built, purchased with good intentions, then hung in the garage for uncounted years. Some are used to death, and the owner doesn't have the skills to fix it. Others have weathered too much weather, displaying a coating of rust that can sometimes be impossible to remove. In the past, these soldiers of steel were "taken to the dump." Well, we just can't do that anymore.
As we become more aware of benefits provided by recycling, it's clear that throwing a bike away is just not the thing to do. Bikes For Tykes takes in donated bicycles, but doesn't rebuild every one. Some end up being parts bikes for others. And some bikes simply don't have anything of value and must be purged from the inventory. I don't see this as a strain, because I see it as an opportunity to clean up. We use recycling scrap steel as a solution for folks who don't know what to do with their old bikes. Plus it's an easy FREE way to keep our streets and back alleys clean of potentially hazardous broken bikes. In fact, according to a blog entry by Vicki Bell at The Fabricator, steel is one of the most recycled materials in the world - beating all others combined. This means less ore needs to be taken out of the earth. It also means that the rusty Huffy hanging in the rafters will one day be the fender to a Hyundai.
It's good to reuse stuff. It's something that is very important in our Bikes For Tykes program. Without it, if we were to use all brand new parts to build bikes for underprivileged kids, our costs would skyrocket and we would not have the ability to touch all the corners in our community. Recycling is a good idea. We do it every day.
So how does a person recycle scrap steel for free? It's not hard, if the industries are close by. In Western Washington, we're fortunate to have Arrow Metals in Woodinville that takes complete bikes (no disassembly required) and throws them on an enormous pile. Snohomish County also has scrap steel collection bins in at least two locations. The City of Seattle has a scrap steel bin at its Fremont facility. The more sources we find to recycle this material, the less we will need to use new material in the future. After all, it doesn't take virgin steel to make a Huffy...
So before throwing away that old metal fan or rusty trike, try to find a way to recycle it. It just makes good sense.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
October Update
My garage is overloaded. It's filled with bikes, bike tools, bike stands, and bike related shop equipment. It all came out of our Bikes For Tykes shop which we had to vacate by October 1st. Thankfully we were able to be out by the date request by the building owner, and now the contents of that shop are spread through two counties in preparation for a new place to do our thing.
Where will that be? Currently we are discussing that opportunity with a great organization in Bellevue called Jubilee REACH; they have some pretty comprehensive community service programs, and it appears that Bikes For Tykes would also be a good fit for that agenda. We're now pricing out space to make this work, and to continue bringing bikes to the disadvantaged in our area.
We're excited for the future, even though our program may be underground right now. Our hopes are to be ready to build some bikes for Christmas!
Where will that be? Currently we are discussing that opportunity with a great organization in Bellevue called Jubilee REACH; they have some pretty comprehensive community service programs, and it appears that Bikes For Tykes would also be a good fit for that agenda. We're now pricing out space to make this work, and to continue bringing bikes to the disadvantaged in our area.
We're excited for the future, even though our program may be underground right now. Our hopes are to be ready to build some bikes for Christmas!
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