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Life Cycles

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LIFE CYCLES IS headed up by one of our newest members Monica Downey, of Cycling Made Easy (CME) fame. Monica’s a good example of how you can join ZWNW and hit the ground… rolling in her case. Monica ran CME, specialising in supporting people to get back on their bikes and overcoming any fear or other concerns that might stop that happening.  During Covid many folk where contacting her looking to know where they could get a good second had bike.  Monica knew there were hundreds of bikes going to the skip sites every week. Someone told her to contacted ZWNW…. The amazing story of Life Cycles had begun. 

Bike Rescue Project pilot (30th May – 6th June)

HUMBLE BEGINNING It all began with this one-week pilot project and the bikes have never stopped coming since….   THIS PAGE IS CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED!  Where its at now and statistics to follow  Ye ha! We are excited.  Another project that begun as a pilot is rolling with a life of its own.

It’s been an enormous success and Jim, myself, the 4Rs, Council and Sustrans are buzzing with its ongoing potential. We initially got 25 children’s and 15 adult bikes donated in various conditions from poor to virtually good to go. But the bikes just keep coming now!

Zero Waste members repair the bikes and then they are safety checked by The Bike General. Repair is ongoing and we selling them via the events page in batches of 10 beginning with the Children’t bikes. As you might expect some of the units we got are beyond bringing back to life but these will be dismantled for parts to give new life to more complete units.

We are continuing to streamline the whole operation so that there’s a steady supply of bikes and we become the place to deposit bring bikes your children have out grown or that you no longer use. REUSE is up above RECYCLING in the ZERO WASTE HIERARCHY so we want to establish a robust professional process for this work that will serve us and our planet well into the future. Thank you for your engagement  Onwards...

So what is Cycological City region about? You guessed it, the logic of cycling, for mental health, physical heath and planetary health. It will begin as a pilot project but gradually expand to co-ordinate the rescuing of good bikes from waste streams across the city region and beyond. In parallel with that we’ll be up-skilling the community in bicycle repair and maintenance and of course providing a source of cheap but fully road worthy second hand bikes.  

Here’s Tom Waits prefiguring the project Monica is about establishing, not just for the good of the bikes but for environMENTAL health in its both senses.

The timing is perfect with our council just making us the first Zero Waste City region in the UK or Ireland to authentically tackle the waste generation crisis our linear economy is creating. And all this is in line with a needed modal shift in transport aware for fossil fuels, all in line with greener, healthier city region.

Momentum is gathering apace, with Monica at the front of the pack, and the rest of ZWNW in support. We are already talking about our business plan and have found some perfect partners to make it a win win for all of us involved and for the region. Currently we’re in preliminary but engaged meetings with The 4Rs, DCSDC, Rotary Ireland and The Bike General.

Watch this space.

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