Comments (0) Best Way to Reincarnate Your Two-Wheeler - 2009
Recycle-a-Bicycle
Before green initiatives and riding lanes, NYC bikes had a second-class reputation and were left in building hallways or on the street to rot. Fifteen years ago, nonprofit organization Recycle-a-Bicycle was born, partly to address this sanitation problem, but also to get New Yorkers biking. As part of their efforts, some 1,200 bikes a year are donated to RAB's two locations. While they do refurbish and fix up the bikes to be resold, they also have other uses for them: Through their school-based Recycle the Arts program (which involves hundreds of students each year), they've turned bike parts into toys and jewelry, and are also using a DOT arts grant to make an "urban garden" with bike-part flowers, which will be installed underneath the Queensboro Bridge. There are also ride clubs for students, which involve weekly bike rides in the warmer months. Executive director Pasqualina Azzarello says that RAB promotes other worthwhile initiatives: "We're all about everyday bike use as well as health and well-being among young people."
