A second life for bikes
In Sweden, the company Umeå Wheels gives a second life to abandoned bicycles.
A committed start-up
Umeå Wheels is a start-up that collects, repairs, and offers second-hand bikes for sale or rental. It has saved no less than 900 bikes in 2 years, which it offers for sale for $60. On its website, this company tells us that it wants to “reduce the waste of resources and reach a goal of zero stolen or abandoned bikes. We believe that reuse should not just be an option but the first thing to do. Recycling is the last thing we need to do to reduce CO2 emissions from melting bicycle components”.
Students at the heart of the project
Umeå is a small town in the north-central region of Sweden with a large university population of about 30,000 students. Cycling is the most preferred mode of transportation, but many students buy cheap city bikes and leave them behind when they leave. It was this observation that motivated Aamer Barood, himself a student at one time, a Sudanese who moved to Umeå in 2016, to set up the company. Discounts are applied to students who wish to buy a bicycle. When they leave the city, they also have the opportunity to resell the bike. Maintenance is free, which is a big plus because most of the bikes are old and the harsh winters in the city mean that the bikes need more maintenance.
Towards a circular economy
The goal of Umeå Wheels is to make cycling easier while creating a more sustainable city. The protagonists of the project want to make the ecological bicycle the main means of transportation. Aamer Barood reports to Marina Keleva that the start-up is struggling to make a profit and amortize the cost of the project. However, intelligent partnerships and collaborations are being made with authorities and other organizations. For example, to prevent the theft of bicycles, the company is trying to develop a digital recording system for them. For each transaction, the owner of the bike is reported to reduce theft and illegal sales.
Photo credits: @murillodepaula/Unsplash, Paul Green
Global Goodness also suggests:
High-quality writing is very important to members of the Global Goodness team. But no one’s perfect, so we always use Antidote.
Encourage us if you like positive stories!
