Cycle-re-cycle bikes for sale
Published
Wednesday 5 March, 2025
Updated
Wednesday 5 March, 2025
Swale Borough Council are teaming up with a local charity to sell £10 bikes refurbished through the Swale Cycle-re-Cycle scheme.
Isle of Sheppey health and wellbeing charity Sheppey Matters will be selling refurbished bicycles on a first come first served basis from 10 am to 11:30 am on 18 March from the car park on Thistle Hill Way, ME12 3GP.
The bike sale day falls on global recycling day which aims to recognise and celebrate the importance recycling plays in preserving our precious primary resources and securing the future of our planet.
HMP Swaleside inmates refurbish unwanted bikes giving them the opportunity to upskill themselves and make a positive step towards rehabilitation whilst saving bikes from the tip.
The scheme also provides Swale residents with affordable, environmentally friendly transportation, that helps them keep active and healthy.
More than 200 bikes have already been refurbished and sold on through local community groups, making the scheme self-funding and sustainable.
The council funded the initial supply of bike parts and workshop consumables, while Canterbury Bike Project trained an instructor to deliver the City & Guilds qualification at the prison.
If you have a roadworthy bike – two wheels and two brakes - you’d like to donate, drop it off at the donation point at the Sheerness Household Waste Recycling Centre, along with new or good condition used parts.
Find out more about the Cycle-re-Cycle scheme here.
Cllr Rich Lehmann, chair of the Environment and Climate Change Committee, said:
"The Cycle-re-Cycle scheme is a really inventive way to use recycling to benefit our community in so many meaningful ways, while also reducing the number of bikes getting thrown away.
“New bikes can be very expensive, and our scheme makes it easier for people to start using this environmentally friendly and active transportation method, while also helping inmates take positive steps towards their rehabilitation as they learn new skills.
“We only have one planet, and we need to take care of it. Global Recycling Day provides a great chance to start viewing our unwanted things not as waste but as opportunities – and this project is a perfect example of that.
“Please get involved if you can, either by coming along to our sale and buying a bike, or if you have one sitting in your garage unused, please consider donating it to the scheme.”
The council are also organising a community volunteer day on the same day (18 March), to help collect and remove litter and thousands of tree guards from Thistle Hill Community Woodland.
