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Greater Anglia has donated more than 300 bicycles to Re-Cycle, a charity which takes used bicycles and ships them to rural communities in Africa.
The cycles were all abandoned and had been left at stations across the Greater Anglia network.
Throughout 2020, the train operator carried out cycle tagging exercises, where notices are attached to cycles parked in the station’s racks. Cyclists are asked to remove the tag from the bike to indicate it is being used. Any cycles with tags left on them after a period of time are removed from the cycle storage and donated to charity.
During 2020, more than 500 cycles were removed and a total of 333 bikes were donated to charity. More than 1,000 cycles were tagged across several stations including Broxbourne, Norwich, Cambridge cycle point and Chelmsford.
“We are very pleased to support Re-Cycle by donating these abandoned bikes from various station across our network,” said Krzysztof Drozd, Greater Anglia Station cleaning and waste manager. “People living in rural Africa can walk for miles a day to collect water, or to get to school or work. A bike can change someone’s life, and we are pleased to be able to help Re-Cycle with their mission to help people in Africa access sustainable bike transport.
“We would like to remind passengers that our cycle storage facilities are for short term use only and people should not leave cycles for longer periods of time. We would also advise cyclists to use good quality locks while securing their bikes.”
Claire Kettle, operations director for Re-Cycle added: “Re-Cycle is delighted to partner with Greater Anglia and very grateful for all of the abandoned bicycles donated to us this year. These bikes help so many people in Africa with no other transport options to be independent and the added benefit of our reuse and repurpose ethic, is fewer bikes being sent to landfill in the UK.”
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