We’re delighted that our team in Essex have been able to launch a scheme – similar to the Big Bike Upcycle Revolution – distributing recycled bikes in Essex. Essex Pedal Power Re:Cycles was funded by the Tendring Community Fund and the Essex Cycle Grant, and offers free quality reconditioned bikes to residents, as well as supporting and upskilling dedicated volunteers to achieve their Level 1 City and Guilds Bike Mechanics. The team have also delivered community work experience to young people in foster families, where they gain the opportunity to learn the basics of building and fixing a bike in a workshop environment with our qualified mechanic, inspiring and supporting them as they learn about life outside of the school environment.
Those working on Essex Pedal Power knew there was a big need as soon as they launched in Clacton and Jaywick in 2021. There were more than a thousand applications for bikes in the first six months from the whole area of Tendring. Currently we are offering brand new quality bikes to residents in seven priority wards across the Clacton area, but many applications were from elsewhere. With this funding, EPP have offered an alternative with Essex Pedal Power Re:Cycles. Working with our new qualified volunteers and mechanics we have so far given out 35 reconditioned bikes. With only a couple of weeks to go we hope to give out more as we open our offer to residents from the Little Clacton area.
Scott Dubay is one of those who’s received a bike “...This has offered me a new chance to gain my freedom back, having fixed this bike up for me allows me to leave my house, go shopping, be social, with the community, and feel better about myself as a whole. Thank you everyone involved for giving me my sense of freedom back, to go where I want when I want”.
The hope is that by offering reconditioned bikes we’re helping to prevent some ending up in landfill/ being taken to waste sites and supporting the aims of reuse and recycle. We have been fortunate as our partners across Tendring and Essex councils have offered bikes to us that have been left abandoned, but the majority have been donated by local residents keen to ensure they’ll go to people who need them. We cannot guarantee we will have a bike for everyone, but we do hope people will take that chance to get that summer wheeling feeling on!
