ECO-CONSCIOUS CYCLE TRADE?
Trek in the process of reworking carbon
associated with receiving scrap back from the dealers. Since the operation started in 2011, we believe that 93,727 lbs (43,000kg) of carbon has been recycled to create approximately 40,000 lbs (18,000kg) of re- usable fibre.”
Bamboo Bikes owner Rachel Hammond
takes approximately five to seven years until it can be harvested, so much like coppicing it can be harvested and re-planted in a short cycle,” explains Hammond. “As a material, Bamboo offers a lot of
strength properties which man has tried to replicate in metals. For example, bamboo’s tensile strength is higher than that of steel, as well as it being able to withstand impact much better than carbon. Our frames test stiffer than aluminium equivalent frames, but still offer a smooth, quiet and responsive ride. Bamboo being ‘nodal’, it absorbs the vibration and transfers it through the frame via its length- way fibres, rather than transferring the stress to the rider.” Off-cuts are sold on to other local craftsmen and women by Bamboo Bikes, so there’s little wastage. What’s more, to further the unique bike’s credentials, Hammond has linked with Bangor University to investigate resins based on natural materials and could soon be using them to bond tubes. From one company using natural ingredients to another, Clif Bar recently became the first building in Emeryville, CA to achieve LEED Platinum certification. What does that mean, you ask? Well it means that the 115,000 square foot facility is sustainable in its operations. Rated on five green design categories – sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality – the building used 12,000 board feet of reclaimed wood, a rooftop solar array set up and even boasts four atrium gardens, as well as artwork made from recycled kayaks and, of course, bicycles. The oldest trick in the book for recycling bicycle parts is of course turning used tyres
BIKEBIZ.COM
Specialized’s Bryant Bainbridge
into belts, a trade earning many boutique businesses a fairly quick and easy buck. But not all materials are so easy to recycle, most notably the industry’s ‘black gold’, carbon fibre. To date this oil-based material has been
“I’ve always thought if
you’re educated on climate issues you
should go into politics, or business to change things...” Simon Nash, Green Oil UK
notoriously difficult to recycle, much thanks to the very limited number of facilities able to re- use the material. Things are changing, though, albeit slowly.
Both Specialized and Trek are offering ways to keep the composite material away from the landfill (in some regions these materials are banned anyway). Specialized has it’s own full- time sustainability strategist with Bryant Bainbridge, while Trek’s man in the know, Colin Knell told BikeBiz: “In Europe we allow dealers to send ours and any other companies’ carbon scrap to us, we are happy to do the recycling for companies who do not have this operation.” With an agreement in place with South
Carlonia’s MIT, Trek’s reclaimed carbon is broken down and generally sold for use in recycled thermoplastic parts to add stiffness and strength. “The agreement with MIT is beneficial to both companies,” adds Knell. “We pay for the shipping to South Carolina which obviously renders a cost. As does the man hours
Among other efforts to recycle mixed
metals, ion battery cells and cardboard, Trek’s UK building was designed with local government to be a ‘green’ building. Workers here are encouraged to ride to work with a paid benefit. Specialized, meanwhile, is of the school of thought that minimising impact in the front end of the business is more productive than ‘back end recycling’, as put by Bryant Bainbridge, formerly the manager of Nike’s sustainability efforts at the point of design. He told BikeBiz: “At Specialized we are
approaching the question of sustainability more broadly than just looking at recycling.” Working on a similar model to the Nike MSI
program, Specialized considers the ‘entire lifecycle’ when bringing a product to market. This spans resource extraction, fibre creation, spinning, weaving, shipping to factories, producing the product, shipping the product to retail, use and, finally, end of life. Using this model, the firm is able to analyse the production’s effect on water use, land resource use, toxicity and waste, among other things. Sound complicated? Nobody ever said going
green was easy. But is it worthwhile from a business point of view, if not an ethical one? With plentiful opportunities for recycled
carbon, of which Specialized says it has shifted 10,000lbs so far this year, Bainbridge says as volumes recycled increase costs of doing so will decline. “There is a cost in gathering the frames,
consolidating them and shipping. I would characterise this as an investment in the future as we work to help establish a take back stream for this material. Once established and sufficient volumes achieved the costs of doing this should be neutralised since recycled carbon fibre does have value. In the UK and Europe we are currently
warehousing our frames and will begin recycling there later this year.”
BIKEBIZ JUNE 27
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