On America Recycles Day, Taylor Jones, Bikes for the World operations manager (rear), with Luis Jimenez, executive director, of Fundación Integral Campesina (FINCA Costa Rica), loads donated bicycles headed to Costa Rica for reuse. Photo courtesy of Bikes for the World
In honor of America Recycles Day, a national initiative of nonprofit Keep America Beautiful, Arlington-based nonprofit Bikes for the World donated its 100,000th bike for reuse on Saturday, Nov. 15, at a ceremonial loading of the bike into a shipping container headed to a community in Costa Rica. Representatives from Keep America Beautiful, the U.S. EPA and Fundación Integral Campesina (FINCA Costa Rica), joined Bikes for the World staff and volunteers at the event in Arlington.
The shipment of the donated bike will reach Bikes of the World partner FINCA Costa Rica on Dec. 10. The rural micro-business program will distribute the more than 500 bikes in this shipment to five community-based organizations that recondition and sell them locally.