Pedalling away from landfills and towards sustainability

A bike workshop in Glenfield has saved around 12 tonnes of landfill annually by refurbishing discarded bikes.

Established in 2024 and founded by Robert Bruce, the workshop is largely run by volunteers as part of his social enterprise adventure group ‘Got to Get Out’.

More than 1,000 bikes are repurposed and 750 are repaired by the workshop annually.

“We are fixing about 20 to 30 bikes a week… which equates to about a tonne a month of waste diverted out of landfill,” Bruce says.

EnviroNZ’s Head of Sustainability Prashant Praveen says the workshop is “a good initiative” in reducing waste.

“We see a lot of relatively good bikes, or bikes with usable parts, being brought to transfer stations. It’s a big problem.

“It’s not just landfill operators, reducing waste depends on people making the effort to separate and reuse materials.”

Landfill has increased 30 per cent per capita from 2018-2023, according to Auckland Council’s 2023 waste assessment.

The assessment says this increase largely comes from commercial, construction and demolition waste.

Bruce, an adventure guide and entrepreneur, says his kaupapa with the workshop is to encourage people to get outdoors and into nature.

“We have done arranged group adventures over the years, but now we are encouraging people to do it on a refurbished bike,” he says.

Bruce says the workshop helps encourage people to use bikes as an affordable way to get to work and studies.

“Often it’s people who have just arrived in New Zealand and do not have a car...so a bike enables them to get around.”

Bruce says it is “really satisfying” to see the workshop’s volunteers develop their sustainability skills.

“I always try to make sure they end up with a bike, a good one… [it] has been very cool to do that.”

More than 14,000 people have joined Bruce’s outdoor activities, which include a Mt Everest Base Camp adventure.

Bruce says he is balancing the pressure of requests for adventures along with improving the bike workshop.

“I want to get growing [the workshop] but not forget my roots.”

The workshop is seeking more volunteers and bike donations.

*AI was not used in the creation of this story