At Sac Bike Kitchen, we had a long talk about this and decided we really wanted to just focus on fixing bikes, not selling or stripping bikes. So, we ask for a scrapping fee, suggested 5$. This is some of the only "work" we actually do for people. We only ask for donation from the people who bring bikes that go straight to the scrap heap.
I think it goes over pretty well, every time I explain that a roadmaster, is not going to get rebuilt and loved, but is going straight to the scrapper and that is because it was built to be disposable, people get it. I think some people know it is trash and we are just the fools getting the hot patatoe, whiles others have never thought about "quality" bikes. That department store bikes are trash in 3 years where as other bikes can last for 50 years.
It is also another time to remind people that our mission is to really help people fix bikes, not scrap bikes, not deal with donation, not sell bikes, but lend tools and teach.
In practice they often give a couple bucks and we scrap it or give away to anyone who wants it, but I think it helps us mentally, that we have thought about it, and that we have communicated to the community that scrapping bikes is a service that we provide and it is worth something.
In theory we hope that this stems the flow before it starts and gets people to think about the waste, hopefully before they buy another bike.
Cheers, Hope our slightly different take it helpful.
Ryan
On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 8:12 AM, Jonathan Morrisonjonathan@slcbikecollective.org wrote:
Unless you have welding / reuse ability (and good insurance to match) put your energy into streamlining your recycling process so (s)crap bikes aren't a problem to accept so that you don't turn excited donors away in shame because they found out their donation was worthless.
We have welding equipment, but we don't have the space yet to utilize it. So until our space situation changes we just put scrap bikes and metal outside of the building and let the people that recycle metal take it away. It lasts out there in less than an hour in most cases.
Pros:
- Our shop doesn't get filled to the gills storing (s)crap
- The metal gets recycled.
- We don't upset donors.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison Executive Director Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2312 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 w: 801-328-2453 c: 801-688-0183 f: 801-466-3856 www.slcbikecollective.org
Get Addicted to Crank! http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/
The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households.
On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 10:12 PM, Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Rejectable bikes are also pretty great material for making bike trailers.
On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 7:51 PM, MoBo Bicycle Co-op mobobicyclecoop@gmail.com wrote:
We have a good relationship with someone who works at a scrap metal place and call him once a month to do a pick up. We often don't have time to part the bikes out, and we don't ask for the money back. Just the fact that they are at least being recycled and that we don't have to use precious volunteer hours to deal with it works out well. He gets to keep the money, we are able to shed our moral/ social burden and it's one less bike in the trash heap.
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 8:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE urbanbikeproject@gmail.com wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
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-- MoBo Bicycle Co-op a project of The Village Green Foundation 1415 Knowlton Ave Northside Cincinnati, OH
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