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Swale Cycle Recycle

Promoting sustainability by recycling old bikes to encourage active travel, a healthier lifestyle and a cleaner, greener environment.

When Swale Borough Council committed to achieving a net-zero borough in 2019, we swore to ensure all projects would avoid negatively impacting the most vulnerable within the borough. The Swale Cycle Recycle scheme goes beyond this, making certain that sustainable transport is affordable for our residents.

A partnership project between Swale Borough Council, HMP Swaleside, and the Canterbury Bike Project, Swale Cycle Recycle works to have a positive impact through the principles of a circular economy. Unwanted bikes from across the borough are taken to a workshop at HMP Swaleside where instructors train inmates to repairing the bikes, who throughout the process gain valuable employment skills to support their rehabilitation.

Once fixed, the bikes are distributed back into the community for a minimum donation of £10, all of which is returned back into the project, ensuring it remains financially self-sustainable.

What have we been up to?

We have held 15 events since the scheme started. We always try to ensure these events help support local organisations that do fantastic work for residents of Swale.  At one event we teamed up with the Swale Domestic Abuse Charity SATEDA, who saw nearly 100 kilograms of clothes donated to support victims of domestic abuse, while also collecting three crates of food for local foodbanks.

In 2025 the scheme was awarded funding from Active Travel England. This allowed us to open a second donation point at the Faversham Household Waste and Recycling Centre, restock our workshops, and also begin recycling scooters.

Swale Cycle Recycle has now refurbished and redistributed over 360 bikes back into the community.

How can you support the project?

If you have any bikes you no longer use, you can simply drop these off at the Sheerness or Faversham Household Waste and Recycling Centre. We've partnered with FCC, who hold these bikes for us to collect every month.

If you'd like to support the scheme by donating a bike, or buying one, check out our upcoming events page.

Who have we worked with?