Tag Archives: Recycle & Reuse

That Doesn’t Go There

by Seth Short
Recycle & Reuse Coordinator
he/him

While Bike Works is operating at a limited capacity, offering by-appointment bike repair and online sales, we are still working hard to intake and process bicycle donations. At least in the world of bicycle donations, spring cleaning is an unexaggerated phenomenon that provides a large chunk of our yearly total (last year our donation number surpassed 8,000 bikes). We don’t expect this year to be any different. Especially with many people quarantined and working from home, Seattleites are packed into houses and apartments that may have just one too many bikes sitting around that they aren’t riding any more.

Learn more about donating bikes to bike works

A few weeks ago, we requested that all donations be brought to King County transfer stations rather than directly to our shop or warehouse so we could more easily control our new (and temporary) intake and disinfecting processes. This is still the best way to donate. But have you ever wondered about the process that occurs between the bikes being dropped off at transfer stations and them reaching their final destination?

A Cleanscapes Recology bin

These large bins are managed by Recology Cleanscapes, and they are periodically brought to their main sorting facility – the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Twice a week, members of the Bike Works Recycle and Reuse team visit the MRF to sort and process these donations. Donated bikes will either be taken back to Bike Works, re-donated to an outside organization (often to be shipped around the world), or melted into scrap metal. On an average day, forty to sixty bikes will be in the bins to be sorted through, but during the spring it isn’t uncommon to receive one hundred or more donations per trip. 

Through our partnership with Recology, and the many donors who drop bikes off at the transfer stations, we have received some amazing bikes and parts. We also occasionally receive very unusual donations.

Here is a brief glimpse:

  • This is a trashed passenger side door. Thanks for thinking of Bike Works, but this is unfortunately not a match for any of our vans!
  • A rusty old hand scythe – this might be useful if we run out of cable cutters and get really desperate.
  • A large rear bumper – good for some crossfit style exercising, but that’s about it. It will live a second life after being melted into scrap metal.
  • A weedeater – with spring coming up and it’s a time of rapid growth for grass and weeds. This would be great for us if there was any grass on our property.

  • Muffler shaped object – assuming I even identified this correctly, should I take this donation as a passive aggressive Seattle way of being told our Bike Works van is too loud?

  • A microwave – I can’t wait to heat up some instant burritos in this thing as soon as we get it running again!
  • I literally have no clue what this is or why it was placed in our donation bins, and therefore have nothing to say about it.

Not pictured, but very commonly donated unusable items also include: lots of patio furniture, push mowers, charcoal grills, dirt-bikes, and more.

Thanks again to all of the people out there donating to Bike Works year-round with bikes and parts of all shapes and sizes. Without your donations we literally could not exist! These donations also give our Recycle and Reuse team a way to stay productive during this uncertain time, diverting thousands of pounds of waste from the landfill. We look forward to seeing what interesting things are donated to us next.

– The Bike Works R & R Team

Bike Works Closure in Response to COVID-19

Community is the most important thing to us here at Bike Works. We feel that we have a responsibility to take care of each other, and we try to embody that in our work.

In light of recent public health concerns surrounding COVID-19, and with developing recommendations from Seattle King County Public Health about minimizing your contact with groups of people and working from home if you can for the time being, we have decided to cancel our programming, volunteering, warehouse, and bike shop hours here at Bike Works through the end of March.

Currently, our bike shop plans to reopen on Sunday, March 29th pending public health recommendations. We do ask that you refrain from bringing bike donations by the shop during this closure. Check out this page on our website for a complete list of bike donation sites around the county – or feel free to bring your donation by on the 29th!

We’re currently selling parts on ebay! Check out our page to shop remotely, and stay tuned for more online sales coming soon.

Our offices and warehouse currently plan to reopen on Monday, March 30th, with bi-weekly Volunteer Repair Parties scheduled to resume on Thursday, April 2nd at 6:30 PM.

All youth programming has been canceled for the month of March. Our April Earn-A-Bike class is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 21st as planned, RIDES Training Club starts April 25th, and April Street Burner activities (open to any youth who have completed a Bike Works class) including bike repair community service drop-in sessions are a go!

Our adult Bike Repair 201 class begins on Thursday, April 23rd, and our new Bring Your Own Bike class begins on Tuesday, May 12th.

Bikecitement!, our annual fundraising dinner & auction, has been postponed to Sunday, October 11th. Get in touch with our Development team for questions about tickets, sponsorship opportunities, in-kind donations, and volunteering.

We are working remotely and are available by email to answer questions – please get in touch with one of our staff members with any questions or concerns! Not sure who to talk to? Email our general account to get redirected to the right person or department.

Thank you for being a part of the Bike Works community. Want to support us during this uncertain time? We always accept online donations through our website.

We hope you’re enjoying the fresh air, independence, and freedom that riding your bike still provides during this uncertain time.

Love,

The Bike Works Team

 

December is a Great Month to Donate… A Bicycle!

Bike Works is hosting two neighborhood bike drives in December. On December 5th at the ASUW Bike Shop on the UW Campus, and on Decmber 6th at Windermere Mercer Island. Bike drives are an important part of sustaining the work that we do. Why? you ask. Well, let me tell you.

Bike Works builds sustainable communities by educating youth and promoting bicycling. Through our programming and our bike shop, we empower people of all ages and abilities, from varied socioeconomic backgrounds, and from diverse cultures and communities. There are two tools for this empowerment: a bicycle and a community. Let’s start by talking about bicycles.

By the end of this year Bike Works will receive over 6,000 bicycle donations. That number is huge! To put that number in perspective: imagine a line of bicycles end to end, front tire to rear tire- that would stretch all the way across the I-90 bridge over Lake Washington… 5 times!

While that is a cool mental image, what’s more important is that 6,000 bicycles have had the opportunity to empower a youth, to get someone to work on time, to offer viable alternatives to car-centric transportation, to fund our growing programming at Bike Works, and simply to avoid landfills by being responsibly recycled. But where do these bicycles come from? That’s where community comes in.

A solid portion of our bike donations come directly from community members bringing bikes to our door in Columbia City. For many people, getting to Columbia City can be a difficult task. In order to cast a wider net, we rely heavily on partnerships and neighborhood bike drives. Neighborhood bike drives make it easy for people to donate a bike without having to drive it across town. Neighborhood bike drives allow you to do something fun and meaningful with your friends, family and coworkers. Neighborhood bike drives keep bicycles accessible and affordable to a diverse bicycling community. And we are all part of that community.

Continue reading →