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Pedal-Powered Recycling and Trash Pick-Up

A Pedal People rider makes his pick-ups
A Pedal People rider makes his pick-ups

Recycling does create energy savings overall, but if you watch those big trucks rolling through your neighborhood on pick-up day, you probably realize that there may be even more efficient ways to handle the collection of these materials. A couple in Northampton, Massachusetts, has found one: pick up those recyclables by bike.

Alex Jarrett and Ruthy Woodring’s cooperative business, Pedal People Cooperative, Inc., started with a love of cycling and a desire to make a difference in 2002. Northampton had no municipal trash or recycling pick-up service, and it just so happened that the Norwottuck Rail Trail led right to a transfer station. Jarret and Woodring had been looking for career alternatives that better suited their values, and saw an opportunity in pedal-powered trash and recycling hauling.

Eight year later, the company now has eleven worker-owners, and seven bike trailers.

Read more about this unique (and green) recycling pick-up service at the Sundance Channel’s SUNfiltered blog.

Looking to pedal-power more of your own life? Check out our selection of Bianchi bikes.

Image credit: Alex Jarrett and Pedal People Cooperative, Inc.

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