Revolutions: A Short Documentary on Bike Waste

We know that mountain biking isn’t ‘green’, and while bikes as transport is better for the planet than cars, there’s still an impact on the environmen …

By stwhannah

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Revolutions: A Short Documentary on Bike Waste

And in today’s news: ‘Man has 500 bikes for Africa refused at port’…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2e7yy3z3p8o

 

Also in Today’s news 40% of Western cast offs end up as waste polluting Africa.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/fast-fashions-waste-pollutes-africas-environment-designers-ghana-116156433

Nice little film. Reflects nicely my view that I have arrived at of ‘stop buying stuff just because you can’. Unfortunately I’ve arrived at that point once the garage is cluttered with carbon products.

A sobering watch and that’s just bicycles! The fact is we have become greedy consumers who want everything and we drive advertising to tell us that we need it all and need it now.

There’s a sobering watch on Netflix at the moment called “Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy” which details how the online shopping and fashion industries in particular has created a whole science around getting people to buy more shit more often.

The fashion thing is appalling; the aftermath of beaches in West Africa and the Phillipines piled high with discarded clothes and shoes. Basically it’s just been shipped off in the guise of “recycling” so that Western consumers can feel good about their environmental credentials and it’s ended up out of (our) sight and mind in a place that doesn’t have the resources to deal with millions of items of clothing arriving every month.

The focus on frames in this documentary is understandable, given they’re the part that makes most people want to buy the bike, but also a bit odd, as they’re the only part of the bike that shouldn’t become unusable through normal use. Tyres cause me a fair bit of guilt as modern ones tend to need changing every year or less, and despite attempts to repurpose or recycle them I suspect the vast majority still end up in landfill.

There are parallels with other outdoor sports. We caught this excellent film at the weekend and it made me think ruefully of the many pairs of Inov-8s (not to mention countless flat pedal MTB shoes) that I’ve slung because I didn’t know about initiatives like his. https://www.instagram.com/p/CoLarOug4wN/

Maybe the solution is like electronics – just make the manufacturer responsible for the end of the product’s life instead of passing it on as soon as the sale is made?

I think we need a “right to repair” law for everything!

It’s even worse for any bike parts containing any electronics. Most manufacturers make no spares available whatsoever so the whole part gets binned. ebike motors and batteries are big culprits but also now seatposts, mechs, shifters etc.

‘There’s more going on behind the scenes, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprises in our upcoming sustainability report!’

:facepalm:

Shocked about how much water used in carbon frame production – 65,000l for a single Specialized Roubaix frame, and 30,000l for the fork.

Will we be sacking off the PSAs and Black Friday **** fests? No? So what’s your point?

As long as you’re still part of the problem you’re not part of the solution. Even Guy Kesteven has caught on. It doesn’t have to be hair shirts and never buying anything either, just don’t take part in the race to the bottom.

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