European Bike Associations Launch Campaign to Reduce Plastic in Industry
Two European bike industry organizations have launched a large-scale effort to improve the sustainability of packaging - especially reduce the use of plastic - in the bike industry.
The Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry (CONEBI) and Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) have introduced a pledge that has been supported by 12 other organizations and so far has 56 bike industry companies committed.
The campaign encompasses both customer- and retail-facing packaging alongside material used throughout the earlier stages of the supply chain, where it's more often overlooked. The guiding principle is to work toward creating a circular economy, in which waste and pollution are fully eliminated, products and materials remain in use, and natural systems are restored.
The CONEBI and CIE have worked together to create a vision that they say has also been endorsed by PeopleForBikes. While the vision applies to all bike industry packaging, the pledge clarifies that when it comes to plastics, it is inspired by and closely aligned with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy Initiative.
The Cycling Industry Sustainable Packaging Initiative Vision:
• Packaging is designed to maximize protection of goods while minimising empty space during shipment, to ensure an optimized (end-to-end) carbon footprint
• Elimination of problematic or unnecessary packaging through redesign, innovation, and new delivery models is a priority
• Reuse models are applied where relevant, reducing the need for single-use packaging
• All packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable
• Recycled content is prioritized to decouple ourselves from using finite resources
• Where virgin materials are needed, they should come from renewable sources in the future
• Preference will be given to mono materials (single materials) to increase recyclability
• All packaging is free of hazardous chemicals, and the health, safety, and rights of all people involved are respected
• All packaging is reused, recycled, or composted in practice, enabling materials and resources to flow back into the system or retaining value through reuse options
• Packaging is designed to maximize protection of goods while minimising empty space during shipment, to ensure an optimized (end-to-end) carbon footprint
• Elimination of problematic or unnecessary packaging through redesign, innovation, and new delivery models is a priority
• Reuse models are applied where relevant, reducing the need for single-use packaging
• All packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable
• Recycled content is prioritized to decouple ourselves from using finite resources
• Where virgin materials are needed, they should come from renewable sources in the future
• Preference will be given to mono materials (single materials) to increase recyclability
• All packaging is free of hazardous chemicals, and the health, safety, and rights of all people involved are respected
• All packaging is reused, recycled, or composted in practice, enabling materials and resources to flow back into the system or retaining value through reuse options
The initiative's commitment includes six points that focus on supporting the above vision and increasing the industry's transparency around environmental issues. SRAM, Bosch, Continental, Marin, Mondraker, and Pon are among the companies that have so far signed the pledge.
The Cycling Industry Sustainable Packaging Initiative Commitment:
1. Sharing and endorsing the common vision for more circular and sustainable packaging solutions with your supply chain partners
2. Working with supply chain partners to reduce problematic plastic packaging's and eliminate unnecessary packaging within your supply chain by 2025
3. Working with supply chain partners to ensure that all supply chain packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025
4. Working with supply chain partners to increase recycled content within packaging materials by 2025
5. Creating customer / retail facing packaging commitments, which align with or exceed the common vision by 2025
6. Sharing progress and update with the wider cycling industry through the CONEBl / CIE Sustainability working group forum
1. Sharing and endorsing the common vision for more circular and sustainable packaging solutions with your supply chain partners
2. Working with supply chain partners to reduce problematic plastic packaging's and eliminate unnecessary packaging within your supply chain by 2025
3. Working with supply chain partners to ensure that all supply chain packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025
4. Working with supply chain partners to increase recycled content within packaging materials by 2025
5. Creating customer / retail facing packaging commitments, which align with or exceed the common vision by 2025
6. Sharing progress and update with the wider cycling industry through the CONEBl / CIE Sustainability working group forum
The pledge states that "unnecessary and excessive" packaging designs, single-use models, and non-recyclable materials entering the natural environment are compounding already dire circumstances for our planet, climate, and biodiversity.
 | In 2019 the volume of packaging waste, in the EU, reached a record high of 79.3 million tonnes, 60% of which was paper, cardboard and plastic. In the US, plastic packaging alone created over 14.5 million tons of waste. The UN Sustainable Development Goals estimate, by 2050, the resource of three planets will be required to sustain the lifestyles of one. |
More information about the pledge is available here.
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I'm finally thrilled with my bike, geo suits me great and I don't think I'll change it anytime soon.
We all here love new shiny models but really, it's time to stop exaggerate
...or the ocean
Tell your city council they suck and you want to end Euclidean zoning.
Bearings: Chris King style of serviceability. Honestly, CK wins on so many levels. B corp, great culture, local and they build to last through easy repair and quality.
Small Parts: Rebuildable drive train parts including derailleurs and shifters. Build the derailleur to take a hit and be repaired. Let the small piece of alu called the derailleur hanger be replaceable and cheap, no anodizing just a raw silver chunk of easy to smelt and reshape alu.
- I know this is a thing but derailleurs still are too soft and hard to get back to 100% (at least the new 12 speed).
- Same with brakes, small parts like pistons would be nice to rebuild old calipers or new seals for levers.
General: Offer repair and build for quality. I am willing to pay more for corporations that are responsible with their manufacturing process and source materials. To be a higher price can reflect the true cost of a product and not just inflation or the profit margins of transnational corporations.
The above are good steps, we just need more.
Then take that perfectly painted bike to the trail and thrash the hell out of it.
We are a weird bunch aren't we?
How about us not buying a new bike every 1-2 seasons?
The goal should be to reduce carbon footprint per bike sold. Yes reducing plastics is one way to do this, but it’s completely meaningless if you end up producing more carbon by shipping a higher volume of cardboard around than if you used a small plastic piece in the first place.
We need more transparency into the real carbon footprint in manufacturing.
Different people can have different opinions about that. Which problem is more urgent: plastic soup in the oceans or global warming? Depending on the answer, you have to set different goals. I however do know that proper waste management can help a lot with the plastic soup problem. For global warming it’s a lot harder.
The real news is how they get their money.
What you don't seem to understand is that "requiring" companies to do this simply 1) increases the barrier to entry, which helps big corporations against competition, 2) increases government/corporate power/influence, 3) which increases overall waste because government and big corporations are historically the biggest polluters.
I can tell that you are not actually concerned about pollution because your desired/proposed actions to decrease world pollution will actually increase pollution while increasing the size of government and corporations. In this regard, you are a "useless idiot". Green on the outside, and red on the inside, perhaps.
Outside to ban PB comment section due to all the hot air and general BS contributing nothing to the world as we know it. It was determined that this was the best route to get more people off the internet and out biking, requiring all the more packaging for new bikes. This move is expected to negate the impacts of the new EU packaging initiative.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/plastics-industry-insiders-reveal-the-truth-about-recycling