Old parts, new beginnings

A broken chain, cracked frame or worn-out tyre doesn’t mean something has reached the end of the line. At Swapfiets, it often marks the start of a new chapter. We design our bikes with circularity in mind, so that parts can be reused, repaired or recycled. If something breaks, we don’t throw it away, we find a new purpose.

What happens when a frame can’t be used anymore?

Once a frame is no longer safe to ride, it goes straight to one of our warehouses. There, our mechanics carefully remove any parts that are still functional. These parts are inspected, tested and stored, ready to be used again on another bike.

It’s a simple but powerful way to reduce waste and extend the life of everything we make. A frame might be done, but the story of its parts goes on.

What about parts that are too damaged?

If a part truly can’t be used anymore, we make sure it’s recycled properly. We sort the materials, separating metal from plastic, rubber from aluminium. Then we send them to certified recycling partners who give those materials a new life.

Take our tyres. In the Netherlands, we work with a recycling partner who transforms old rubber into playground mats or flooring for horse stables. So even when your tyre is no longer on the road, it might still be under someone’s feet.

What about electronic waste?

Our e-Bikes have a few electric parts on them – the battery, the engine, the display to name a few – which require an entirely separate waste stream. However, before we get to this we of course try to extend their lives (and their components’ lives) as much as possible. We’ve partnered a battery repair company who helps us keep our e-Bike batteries in top condition. Whenever one of our batteries isn’t working exactly as it should be, we send it to our partner who is usually able to fix it. When they aren’t, and the battery well and truly has reached the end of its life, they salvage as many parts as possible for use on other batteries and then dispose of the battery safely. We are also working with our supplier to find a solution for engine repair and are finding ways to repair cracked displays. 

We’ve already made changes with our lights, changing from battery powered lights to magnetic lights. As recently written about in one of our blogs, we are also working with students and other designers to come up with an even better solution.

Can everything be recycled?

Not yet. Some parts are made of complex combinations of materials that are difficult to separate. Saddles, for example, often contain polyurethane foam, metal, plastic and glue. These can’t be recycled unless they’re dismantled carefully, and that takes time and labour. If we can’t guarantee clean separation, those parts end up in landfill.

But we’re changing that. We’re now working with a Dutch recycler who uses a shredding and separation process that makes it easier to recycle complex components. At the same time, our product designers are finding ways to simplify parts, making them easier to take apart, and building them from mono-materials where possible.

Design is key. If we make it easy to recycle from the start, we’ll waste less at the end.

What makes it harder? Theft.

When bikes are stolen, we lose control over what happens to the parts. They disappear from our system, which means we can’t repair or recycle them. That’s a big loss, both for us and for the environment.

To fight this, our Bike Hunters are out every day, locating stolen bikes and bringing them back to where they belong. Every bike we recover helps us keep valuable materials in the loop.

And what about e-bike parts?

Electric parts like batteries, displays and motors bring their own challenges. These components need to be handled differently and require their own recycling process.

That’s why we focus on repair first. We work with a battery repair specialist who checks, fixes and returns our e-bike batteries to top condition. If a battery truly can’t be saved, they salvage what they can and recycle the rest.

We’re also working on motor repair and looking into ways to fix cracked displays. And we’ve already made one big improvement, replacing battery-powered lights with magnetic lights that require no batteries and last much longer.

If you could imagine an ideal world (part-wise), what would it look like?

In an ideal world, our bikes would never break and still be super comfortable. Though our designers are working hard to make our bikes as durable as possible, the reality is that parts do occasionally break and bikes do occasionally need to be decommissioned. With this in mind, an ideal world is one where all parts are repaired, reused, and eventually recycled directly into other parts of similar value. In other words, the recycling process is robust enough to retain the material value of the part so that a used blue tire can be turned back into a blue tire (powered by renewable energy, of course). Then, on the input side, all of the parts that we order (spare and for new bikes) will be made using recycled materials such that there is a minimal amount of virgin inflow and a minimal amount of waste outflow. 

Going forward, we continue to design durable bikes and parts with their end of life in mind, paying particular attention to the materials used and the separability and complexity of the parts. We will also continue to work closely with our repair, waste, and partners to ensure that our bikes and parts live for as long as possible in whatever form – bike or window frame – they might take. In other words, we will continue to create pathways for our old parts to have new stories.