Greater Anglia donates hundreds of bikes to Re-Cycle

Published on: Wednesday, 6 January 2021
Last updated: Friday, 8 January 2021

Greater Anglia has donated more than 300 bicycles to Re-Cycle, a charity which takes used bicycles and ships them to rural communities in Africa.

The cycles were all abandoned and had been left at stations across the Greater Anglia network.

Throughout 2020, the train operator carries out cycle tagging exercises, where notices are attached to cycles parked in the station’s racks. Cyclists are asked to remove the tag from the bike to indicate it is being used.

Abandoned cycles from Greater Anglia stations laying on the ground

Any cycles with tags left on them after a period of time are removed from the cycle storage and donated to charity.

During 2020, more than 500 cycles were removed and a total of 333 bikes were donated to charity.

More than 1,000 cycles were tagged across several stations including Broxbourne, Norwich, Cambridge cycle point and Chelmsford.

Krzysztof Drozd, Greater Anglia Station Cleaning & Waste Manager, said: "We are very pleased to support Re-Cycle by donating these abandoned bikes from various station across our network.

"People living in rural Africa can walk for miles a day to collect water, or to get to school or work. A bike can change someone’s life, and we are pleased to be able to help Re-Cycle with their mission to help people in Africa access sustainable bike transport.

"We would like to remind passengers that our cycle storage facilities are for short term use only and people should not leave cycles for longer periods of time.

Representatives from Recycle standing in front of bicycles in a truck

"We would also advise cyclists to use good quality locks while securing their bikes."

Claire Kettle, Operations Director for the charity Re-Cycle said: "Re-Cycle is delighted to partner with Greater Anglia and very grateful for all of the abandoned bicycles donated to us this year.  These bikes help so many people in Africa with no other transport options to be independent and the added benefit of our reuse and repurpose ethic, is fewer bikes being sent to landfill in the UK."

Colchester-based Re-Cycle takes used bikes and sends them to rural communities in Africa, enriching the lives of those less fortunate, by giving them the gift of independence. The charity also provides training to mechanics on how to service and repair the bikes, enabling a bike to become more sustainable.