(WBBM NEWSRADIO) - One proven way to put the planet on a greener path is to hop on a bike or send one to another country.
“We try to get every bike we can find to its best possible home,” said Trevor Clarke, executive director of Working Bikes.
Clarke’s organization, based at 24th and Western, gives old bikes a new, greener life.
“We believe in bikes as tools for self-determination,” Clarke said.
During a recent Cook County recycling event, Clarke noted that they had collected 17 bikes.
Working Bikes conducts bike sales at their warehouse, Clarke said, where they have professional mechanics repair old bikes. They also run a volunteer program, in which volunteers fix bikes that will then be donated to Chicagoans in need.
“Most of our bikes that we collect, about 70% of the 13,000 or so bikes we’ll get in a year, will end up with our international partners,” Clarke noted. “Most of our partners are in Africa, and we also send some bikes to El Salvador and Central America and recently Mexico as well.”
Some people in other countries who get those bikes will see their commute time cut from three hours of walking to a half-hour of riding, he said.
Putting old bikes to use keeps them out of landfills, keeps gas guzzling cars off the road, and generally greens up the globe.
“It’s healthy, it’s active, it’s getting them where they need to go, and it’s really sustainable over the long-term,” Clarke said.
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