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Learn about Revolve ReCYCLING through Sarah’s story

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Impact is why Revolve ReCYCLING was founded and operates

For the environment, we want to give old bikes new life, conserve resources and keep things out of landfill.

For society, we want to create jobs, including for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Nine months after starting in the middle of COVID and with basically some ideas on a whiteboard in western Sydney and a few Excel spreadsheets, we are starting to have the impact we are aiming for.

In nine months, Revolve ReCYCLING has:

· Collected some 1500 used bikes and other Personal Transport Vehicles (PTVs) from Sydney homes, institutions and Councils;

· Reconditioned and redeployed some 17% of collected bikes;

· Recycled some 20 tonnes of metal and other material from PTVs that cannot be redeployed;

· Saved some 23 tonnes of greenhouse gases;

· Created 6 jobs, including 3 for people from disadvantaged backgrounds;

· Prepared some 60 bikes for charitable donation;

· Started to partner with organisations like Councils, the bicycle industry and rider bodies, and the recycling industry, especially our great friends at Bingo Industries;

· Started to provide bike maintenance courses.

Mostly, Revolve ReCYCLING wants to thank everybody who is contributing to our impact – our terrific team, people who donate their bikes and contributions, customers who buy our cool, high-quality, and affordable redeployed bikes, and our partners, first and foremost of which is Bingo Industries and our pals there. Thank you!

In December, Revolve ReCYCLING went “next level” and it felt very “grown-up”. Thanks to Bingo, and after two temporary spaces we were too big for, we now have a permanent home in Alexandria in the Inner East. It’s a cool big warehouse space with room for dropping off our weekly collections; our excellent mechanics to do redeployments; for disassembly for recycling; for our sales showroom, and; for collaborators (watch this space). Come visit us at 84 Burrows Road Alexandria

The team makes the difference

Sure, Revolve ReCYCLING is about new life for old bikes. But it’s real humans who make that happen. We’re thrilled to have been building a cool and committed team in our first nine months. We come from diverse backgrounds including the bike repair sector, environmental activism, community-based organisations, and the recycling industry, but we share a passion for doing something new, different, and better with all the Personal Transport Vehicles (PTVs) that have previously been chucked rather than rescued. Here are some of our folks:

Our General Manager, Guido Verbist, is well-known for establishing and running The Bower Re-use and Repair Centres in Sydney for some ten years. He’s a leader of the reuse movement in Australia, and cut his teeth in Europe as a senior operations guy for Greenpeace. Guido is the boss of all things bike at Revolve ReCYCLING, but is never too busy to talk to our customers, our contributors, or our partners. He loves listening to people’s experiences with bikes and with our business.

Sarah is our lead bike mechanic and a total gun. After some 17 years in the bike industry, she basically knows everything there’s to know about bikes and related craft. A legend on the Sydney bike scene, Sarah’s real passion is ensuring high-quality work and teaching others about their bikes – how to fix them, maintain them and best use them. She’s a total advocate for bike education, and you’ll see her working with Councils and bike shops soon.

Liam is a rising star in Sydney bikes. He’s been on the tools at great shops like Omafiets before. He is totally Mr Fix-it whether it’s on our bikes or on the vintage cars he’s into. We’re really pleased to be supporting Liam to get a Cert 3 in bicycle mechanics because we want our industry to progress to the highest professionalism.

Abdul joined us – after a 4-year break for medical reasons – as route planner to organise our weekly bike collection runs. He brings his previous experience as a planner and his route familiarity as a local resident which gives us the confidence that our bike collection program is in good hands.

Anthony joined our sales team. He’s unable to work full time for health reasons and was looking for a way to make a contribution. He appreciated the concept behind Revolve ReCYCLING and approached us for some work. He’s worked in bicycle stores building and repairing bikes as well as riding Freestyle BMX.

Hashim is our newest team member at Revolve ReCYCLING. A goldsmith and jeweller by training, he was a refugee from Iraq to Australia. We support Hashim in getting back into the workforce after a break. Say hello to Hashim who goes out to pick up bikes from community members and Councils.

Product Stewardship Scheme to stop wasting bicycles

Ever wonder why some things seem more recyclable than others? One of the reasons is whether the companies that produce products are part of the recycling and reuse solution for them at end-of-life.

For example, according to government policy, manufacturers share responsibility with consumers, Councils, and others for the recovery and recycling of items like computers, TVs, mobile phones, farm chemicals, some forms of packaging, and others.

How about bikes and other Personal Transport Vehicles? Not yet – which is a shame because basically everything on them is technically recyclable if not financially viable, including metals, rubber, plastic, and textiles. It’s even more of a shame because the fastest-growing category of PTVs are e-bikes – whose batteries are nasty if they end up in the wrong place.

But stuff’s changing. Australian consumers are increasingly saying they want to take responsibility for their waste and they want the companies that they support to do so too. We are really pleased that the bike industry, colleagues in the environmental movement, and governments seem to be listening.

Together with We Ride Australia, Bicycle Industries Alliance, Total Environment Centre, Bingo Industries, Equilibrium, and The Pedal Club, in December Revolve ReCYCLING nominated bikes and other PTV’s to be listed by the Commonwealth Government as eligible for product stewardship. That would mean less of the 1.5 million bikes sold each year going to landfill at end-of-life. What a waste. Watch this space for the next couple of months when product stewardship may help bring new life to old bikes.

Ever wonder why some things seem more recyclable than others? One of the reasons is whether the companies that produce products are part of the recycling and reuse solution for them at end-of-life.

For example, according to government policy, manufacturers share responsibility with consumers, Councils, and others for the recovery and recycling of items like computers, TVs, mobile phones, farm chemicals, some forms of packaging, and others.

How about bikes and other Personal Transport Vehicles? Not yet – which is a shame because basically everything on them is technically recyclable if not financially viable, including metals, rubber, plastic, and textiles. It’s even more of a shame because the fastest-growing category of PTVs are e-bikes – whose batteries are nasty if they end up in the wrong place.

But stuff’s changing. Australian consumers are increasingly saying they want to take responsibility for their waste and they want the companies that they support to do so too. We are really pleased that the bike industry, colleagues in the environmental movement, and governments seem to be listening.

Together with We Ride Australia, Bicycle Industries Alliance, Total Environment Centre, Bingo Industries, Equilibrium, and The Pedal Club, in December Revolve ReCYCLING nominated bikes and other PTV’s to be listed by the Commonwealth Government as eligible for product stewardship. That would mean less of the 1.5 million bikes sold each year going to landfill at end-of-life. What a waste. Watch this space for the next couple of months when product stewardship may help bring new life to old bikes.