Lindsay Hurrell: Recycle bikes to Africa

Today we welcomed back member John Scammell, fresh from the Camino and only just recognisable, having lost two stone and gained a beard since we saw him last. We look forward to hearing about his and Pam’s pilgrimage when he tells us about it on 19 December.

Our speaker was Lindsay Hurrell from Re-Cycle, which collects bicycles which are no longer wanted in the UK and sends them to partner organisations in Ghana, South Africa, The Gambia and Zambia. There they are distributed to local people who need them.

In the UK Re-Cycle partners with Halfords and other specialist retailers, who pass to them bikes they have received in part exchange deals. Re-Cycle also has collection points where members of the public can take bikes they no longer want.

Re-Cycle inspects the bikes and prepares them for shipment to Africa. Unusable bikes are broken down for spare parts or for the recycling of their components. The only parts which cannot be recycled are the plastic reflectors on the wheels.

The work is handled by Re-Cycle’s six paid staff (not all full-time) and a large number of volunteers. The charity’s UK workshops also provide voluntary work opportunities for those with learning or other difficulties that reduce their likelihood of paid employment. The African partner organisations provide training opportunities for local people in building, refurbishing and maintaining bikes.

Re-Cycle receives bikes from Halfords in containers of about 150. Over the years it has discovered how to prepare the bikes to fit into a much smaller space for shipment and can get about 500 into each container destined for Africa. The charity celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2018 by sending out its 100,000th bike! Up to the end of August this year it had despatched 16 containers of 500 bikes and hopes to increase that figure to 20 by the end of the year.

The bikes can substantially reduce the time it takes local people to get to work or to school or to fetch water for their families. They also make it easier for them to carry water, food, books and other items.