Raising awareness through bike recycling

(New York - WABC, September 5, 2007) (WABC) -- On Eyewitness News Wednesday morning, we take a look at an eco-friendly program here in New York City.

Some bicycles are about to get recycled, collected from around New York University. In fact, there are quite a few abandoned bikes in storage rooms and on racks all over campus.

But rather than tossing the two-wheelers, NYU has teamed up with the environmental group "Times Up" to give the bikes new peddle power.

So far about 33 bikes have been retrieved.

Volunteers at "Times Up" -- many of them NYU students -- are spiffing them up and putting them into good working order.

The idea to recycle the bikes came from NYU sophomore Emily Allen. She and Bill Dipaolo of "Times Up" applied to the university for a grant to put the plan in action. They received five thousand dollars for their project.

"Times Up" will keep half of the recovered bikes. The rest will be given away to freshmen who take a workshop here on bike repair.

It's all part of a bigger effort by raise awareness among college students and the city itself about eco-friendly forms of transportation.

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