City of Tampa Solid Waste workers are restoring bicycles for a local nonprofit organization dedicated to mentoring Tampa teens. Recently, McKay Bay Scalehouse and Transfer Station workers noticed a hauler with close to 30 bikes with plans to dispose of them at the facility, and the workers recovered the bikes before they were dumped and discarded. Out of the approximately 30 bikes, 10 of them were recovered and restored to tip-top, usable shape.
According to the city’s website, www.tampa.gov, the transfer station is a site for the “temporary deposition, consolidation and aggregation of waste. From here, waste can be divided, sorted and taken to the correct disposal location, whether it is our Waste-to-Energy Facility or off-site recycling service to recover materials such as metals.”
Every day, tons of debris are disposed of at the McKay Bay Transfer Station. Workers notice many items that can be reused or donated that end up in the waste stream. Once items hit the tipping floor, they cannot be recovered, so it was quick thinking and action that allowed these workers to recover the bikes.
The proactive actions of the workers kept the bikes out of landfills and now the 10 bikes are finding a new home. Teens mentored by the nonprofit Take The Time mentoring group (TTT) recently visited McKay Bay to receive the bicycles. TTT mentors Tampa teens on etiquette and exposes them to community service projects across the city.
Solid waste interim supervisor Fredrick Sanders, the nonprofit’s founder, invited the teens and their families to receive the bicycles on July 22.
“This is a great way to give back to teens in need while educating them on what it means to reduce and reuse items. These bikes would have made it into a landfill, but now they have found a new home,” said McKay Bay Transfer Station supervisor Nathan McGriff.
McKay Bay Scalehouse and Transfer Station is located at 114 S. 34th St. in Tampa. For more information, visit www.tampa.gov/solid-waste.
