Bikes in the garbage

In my neibourhood, the garbage gets picked up on Thursday morning. Before getting in my car to go to work, I saw two complete bicycles next to some bags of garbage. One was a mountain bike, while the other was a child's bike.

Immediately I thought of Canadian Tire, the store that most likely sold this bike for a mere $100 or so. There is a factory that made this thing, which pollutes and uses resources. The buyer's son probably grew out of the smaller bike, but the other one just got old and useless. Now, it's in a landfill, most likely without even given the chance to have it's metals recycled or it's tires reused. It doesn't take space up in his garage anymore, but it still takes up space.

In a way, I don't blame the buyer for throwing these things out. There is no financial incentive at all to dismantle the bikes and have them recycled. There is no financial incentive to drive the bike over to a used bike shop and donate the bikes. There is also no financial incentive to take the time to put the word out online for someone who could use the bikes. Well, in this case, he could have received a few dollars for the bikes, but it's much easier to just put them in the garbage where a worker uncritically takes away the crap that you don't want or need once a week and puts them somewhere else. Out of sight, out of mind.

I've been reading Elizabeth May's book "How to Save the World in Your Spare Time", and I've been thinking about organizing something to help people not waste as much. Ideas to come and if you have any, let me know.

P.s. I drive to work because it's cheaper and faster. We are surrounded by ipods, cool cell phones, and other technology that distract us from the fact that we are actually technically stunted. Humans have done so much, so why is it more expensive to take public transit?