About Re~Cycle

Re~Cycle is a British charity committed to providing cheap, sustainable transport to less devolved countries. We believe that bicycles offer poor people the best means to improve their lives, giving them opportunities to travel to work and school. They can also be adapted to carry goods and passengers giving small scale farmers and traders the opportunity to reach customers further afield. They are also an invaluable resource for travelling health workers coping with the AIDS epidemic.

We collect unwanted bikes from individuals and organisations such as the Post Office. These are reconditioned, loaded into containers and sent to several locations in Africa. There, they are distributed by our African partners. We also teach repair and maintenance skills.

The South African Transport Minister, Dullah Omar, saw the massive potential in Re~Cycle and Afribike’s work and presented the manifold benefits to parliament. He has requested one million bikes over the next ten years.

Major Beneficiaries

• Children, who currently walk up to 9 miles each way to school

• Outreach workers, e.g. medical personnel, agricultural advisors

• Women, whose day often has multiple journeys, e.g. fetching water, work, creche

• Commuters and farm workers, taking goods to market

Adapting Cycle Technology

• Re~Cycle has a fantastic trailer design made from unwanted bike parts and cheap materials.

• Overseas, partners manufacture the ‘XtraBike’, a simple device that greatly increases the load capacity of a bike. This makes bikes suitable for many tasks including fetching water, taking goods to market, mobile vendors, and collecting recyclables. The potential for turning a discarded bicycle into a labour saving, job-creating tool for change is enormous.

Re~Cycle sells a fantastic 'Western version' in the UK, to raise funds.

Overcoming Barriers To Cycling

• Cost, bikes cost money so credit helps. Many people pay 1/4 of their income on transport

• Safety, mostly a question of driver awareness, a famous quote from a South African mechanic "the drivers treat cyclists like insects "

• Gender Barriers