Ferris Robinson
Louis Brill is an engineering technician for Signal Mountain’s public works department and noticed bicycles were consistently being disposed of at the town’s transfer station. Some of the bikes were in terrible shape with broken fenders, missing handlebars and bent wheels. But some were just rusted and missing a tire, clearly outgrown by its former rider.
“Every month we were seeing so many bicycles being put into our scrap metal container or, even worse, into our landfill container,” Louis said, thinking it was shame to both let bikes folks might be able to us go to waste, and add to Signal Mountain’s carbon footprint by adding them to the landfill. Bikes take up a good amount of space, and Louis and other employees had been brainstorming to find a way to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill from the town.
“It just seemed like a no-brainer to figure out some way we could repurpose these bikes,” Louis said, and the solution was actually right under his nose. Or more literally, right around the block from his home in Red Bank.
"I’m quite familiar with White Oak Bicycle Co-op as they’re based out of a workshop a few blocks down from my home in Red Bank, and I had heard about their mission to get bicycles into the hands of those that are in need here in our region,” Louis said. He was aware that White Oak Bicycle Co-op, a local 501c(3) nonprofit, takes in bicycles that are no longer needed and refurbishes them so that they can be donated at no cost to children who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them, as well as to unhoused individuals in our region.
He reached out to Blake Pierce, the executive director at WOBC, and asked if he might be interested in partnering with the town of Signal Mountain and taking the bikes.
"He was extremely interested,” Louis said happily, adding that since the recent partnership, about 60 bicycles that would have gone straight to the landfill have been collected by WOBC.
Once they are taken to WOBC, volunteer bike mechanics examine the bike and determine if it can be refurbished to working order. If that’s not possible, they strip the bike and use the parts they can on another bicycle.
Now, residents of Signal Mountain can drop their old, broken or no-longer-needed-but-still-running-great two-wheeler off at the Signal Mountain Public Works transfer station, at 714 Mississippi Ave., and know it will provide joy to another rider, possibly one who wouldn’t have had the chance to own a bike otherwise.
What a win-win, all thanks to the considerate, forward-thinking folks at SMPW and the generous volunteers at WOBC.
“Overall, we couldn’t be happier with this program and the impact that it has on the wider community!” Louis said.
Learn more at WOBC at whiteoakbicycle.org.
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Ferris Robinson is the author of three children’s books, “The Queen Who Banished Bugs,” “The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds,” and “Call Me Arthropod” in her pollinator series “If Bugs Are Banished.” “Making Arrangements” is her first novel. “Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity” is a collection of true tales about man’s best friend. Her website is ferrisrobinson.com and you can download a free pollinator poster there. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror.