Andover Recycling Day

Much of my Saturday was spent in Andover (where?) helping out at a recycling event. MMRB works several recycling days a year, taking in bikes people are tossing out and bringing the "keepers" back to the shop for repairs and placement (for free) with people that need them.

I had worked last fall at the Fridley recycling day with MMRB and had heard that Andover was usually a bigger event, so I was eager to give Andover a go and the date fit with an open weekend, so I packed my tools, stand and a table and met the crew in Andover about 8:45 AM.

The work at these events amounts to mostly stripping down bikes that are too far gone, salvaging what's worth saving, tossing all the plastic and rubber garbage, and recycling the metal while we are at the recycling event. The goal is to not bring "tear-downs" home since they take up space in the storage units and take time to tear them down. Plus, there's the problem of disposing them. So much better to keep up on the tear downs while we are there if possible.

We did pretty well on the keeping up. In addition to the "staff" of MMRB, we were joined by Mitchell from Leonardo's Basement and Minnesota Roller Girl Barbie Brawl (really and truly). Leonard's Basement sounds fascinating - it's an educational program where children and teens can learn welding and metal working and make things under the direction of some creative, skilled people. After talking with Mitchell, I think I need to get over there and check it out.

I lost count of how many bikes came in, how many came home and how we (or I) tore down. The photos are the two loads of bikes that went back to the shop - there were a few more in the bed of my truck as well and we had to leave a few more behind to get later.

These events are tiring, but they give a person that good volunteer feeling. I swear that I use my pedal wrench more in one day of recycling than I do the entire rest of the year. That's when a good tool pays off.