What's Happening in Newburyport, MA…

Another season has begun in Newburyport where bikes that are discarded at the city recycling center and other locations are being repaired, reused, and ridden by new owners. Both city recycling managers and volunteers are involved in this effort which sends these bikes throughout the city, and as far away as Kenya.

Edo Kombana, project manager for Small Solutions, Big Ideas, the nonprofit organization that operates the program, says that the idea has been helpful to children both in this country and in Africa. Bicycles that are often discarded in this country can be repaired and sent elsewhere.

According to the head of the recycling and energy-efficiency programs for Newburyport, Molly Ettenborough, close to 200 bikes have been repurposed for reuse over the last few years. The residents at a local retreat for adults in transition, Link House, are often the ones who clean and repair the bikes.

Some of these renovated bicycles are used by local children who want wheels, while others go to churches and civic organizations. These, in turn, find recipients and some are given to educators in Kenya where transportation by bike is the primary way to get more high-tech items, like laptop computers, from seaports to local communities.

Most likely, flyer printing is being used in the city to inform people of this recycling program and the benefits it offers to those needier children and their families.