Six years after its launch, Edinburgh bicycle recycling depot the Bike Station has taken in its 25,000th bike. The bike was a Fifties, British-built, ladies bike, still in very good condition, although made of a heavy steel frame.
The Bike Station says that of the 25,000 bikes it has been donated around 11,000 have been repaired and put back on the road (the station sells the secondhand bikes). If any bikes are too rusted or damaged to be repaired, any working parts are salvaged and then the bike is sent to a local scrap metal yard for recycling.
As well as selling refurbished bicycles, around 170 cyclists use the bike station each month to fix up and service their own bikes.
The Bike Station also received £750,471 in 2009 from the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund to take its practical brand of cycle advocacy to the wider community in the 80:40:20 Challenge. Its aim is to encourage businesses in Edinburgh to use more sustainable forms of transport: 80% reducing their driving, 40% starting to take the bus, cycle or walk, and 20% regularly using these methods.
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