Swale Cycle Recycle

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 held eight events in 2024.

Two donation days held in partnership with the Sittingbourne Invicta Rotary Club saw over 200 bikes donated by members of the public. At one of these we teamed up with the Swale Domestic Abuse Charity SATEDA, who saw nearly 100 kilograms of clothes donated to support victims of domestic abuse, as well as three crates of food for local foodbanks.

We've worked with some brilliant community minded organisations such as Sheppey Matters and Seashells Children and Families to distribute over 150 bikes back into the Swale 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 Household Waste and Recycling Centre. We've partnered with FCC, who hold these bikes for us to collect every month.  We're working to bring the same to the centres based in Faversham and Sittingbourne next.

If you'd like a bike, keep an eye out on our social media.

Who have we worked with?