Earth Day and GreenDayRecycling

 While at the electronics recycling event at the First Parish Church on Vernon Street this past Saturday, I asked the man who took my money, where do these items go? He replied, “I do not know” and gave me a flyer with the name of the recycling company, GreenDayRecycling MA. I noticed they were excepting bicycles at no charge. I walked over to the earth day event expecting to see members of the DPW standing next to recycle carts as in the past. But they were not there.

I did a google search and a State of Mass search for the company. Turns out, they are not listed as a company in Massachusetts. Odd I thought so I dug deeper and found that the company takes in bicycles for free and sells them to people in third world countries.
The next day I asked the First Parish Church if they had asked GreenDayRecycling to set-up in their parking lot. No answer from them. So, I contacted the organizer of Earth Day and she asked why I was asking. I only wanted to know how much of a cut GreenDay was giving back to the church or Earth Day. 

So, I asked DPW why they were not there at Earth Day, one of the few times DPW comes face to face with residents and a perfect time to drive home the importance of proper recycling. But DPW said they were understaffed and already committed to other things.
I would like to think residents of Framingham who donate their used bikes to recycle, would prefer the bikes be given back to the needy kids here in Framinghhma. Two groups have already given bikes away, United Way and Jewish Family Services of MetroWest along with FPS in 2021. My point of this rant is if residents want to get rid of a bicycle and there are kids in Framingham who could use one, why not keep them in Framingham. Also, recycling companies should make clear where the material is going. Many countries now who used to take all our electronic scarp, no longer do. And some countries lack environment laws and safe employee work conditions. Recycled electronics should stay is this country and safely reduced to usable scrap.
I’m going to try to work out a plan to accept used bikes and give them to needy kids.

My correspondence with GrenDayRecycling;

Hi, The electronics were collected by Green Day Recycling, where they will be broken down and recycled as our partner facility.

The bikes go to a variety of places. We have contacts who can refurbish and repurpose the bikes if they are in good shape. Otherwise, they will be scrapped with the rest of the materials.

Who is your partner facility? Do they send anything abroad?

Regarding the bicycles, are any of them shipped to other countries?

https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/east-valley/2013/06/20/misunderstanding-muddles-bike-effort/45508252007/