30 Oct
2006
30 Oct
'06
1:12 p.m.
At Free Cycles Missoula we throw rags away too, after lots of use. Perhaps the deeper root to work on is lessening the chemicals used in the lifecycle of a bike. We have experimented with a bio lube produced locally from veggie oil- it was really good (and edible), but not as 'good' as tri flow for longevity. Also- all the de-icer used on city streets eventually comes into our shop. It will be longer term, but lets get the poisons out of the system. Short term- I like the idea of sending the rags to haz waste facilities instead of land fills. I'm interested to hear more ideas. -Bob
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Bob Giordano
Free Cycles Missoula
Shop: 732 S. 1st St. West, 541.7284
3PM-7PM Mon,Tues,Thurs & 11AM-3PM Sat
Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation
www.strans.org, mist@strans.org, 406-880-6834
Graham Stewart said:
> We've cleaned ours at least once, but I'm not personally sure it's worth
while. At the bike dump, rags get used until they are so full of grease
they can't even be used to clean a chain. At that point they tend to
head towards the garbage. We're not going for zero environmental
impact, just minimal. IMO, the energy and detergent used by washing
rags is worse than putting some reused cloth and possibly biodegradable
grease into a landfill.