Bike Gallery's recycling guru, Domann, also works at our Beaverton store.

Have you ever wondered what happens to all those old tubes or tires your bike mechanic is replacing? Or all those zip ties holding packing together? You’ve guessed it. They usually end up in the landfill. But thanks to owner Jay Graves’ commitment to sustainability and our own recycling guru Domann’s hard work, we save thousands of pounds from filling the landfills each month.

I spent the day following Jason Domann—who goes by Domann—on a recycling run. You might be wondering, “doesn’t the local waste disposal company take your recycling?” They do. But they accept a very limited number of items.

After picking up recyclable materials from each of our six stores that the local waste disposal company won’t collect, we were sweaty and dirty. But the Sprinter was stuffed with tires, tubes in the cardboard boxes, plastic bags and rigid plastics that we were saving from the landfill.

The Sprinter was stuffed with items that we were saving from the landfill.

We hoisted over 680 tires alone into the truck.

Tires

Our next stop was the home of Julien Jaborska. Julien is a local Portland artist whose company, the Rebicyclist, fashions belts and key chains from recycled bike tires. There are not many small businesses that can use the quantity of recycled tires we have each month, but one large wholesale account is keeping him very busy. He makes over 100 belts a month and he’s a sole proprietor.

Domann says finding a recycling partner “is like adopting a dog. You have to check references and know where it’s actually going.” Julian is a wonderful example of this research. After Julian has used all he can from the tires, he pays to take the scraps to be recycled instead of throwing them away.

Julien Jaborska is the founder of Rebicyclist.

Rebicyclist fashions belts and keychains from recycled bike tires.

Julien makes over 100 belts a month.

Inner Tubes

Our next stop was Cycledog in NW Portland to drop off all our used bike tubes. Cycledog fashions the used inner tubes into dog leashes and collars.

Plastics

Our last stop was Far West Fibers in east Portland. They accept all our plastic bags and rigid plastics like plastic clamshell packaging, zip ties, etc. Our plastic bags alone filled up an entire dumpster.

And talk about dedication! Domann looks through every bag of rigid plastic to make sure that there are no contaminants (unrecyclable materials) that might render the recycling batch unusable.

Thank you Domann for your “tireless” dedication to Bike Gallery and to minimizing our impact on our community and the planet. When he’s not recycling, you’ll find Domann at the Beaverton store. If you’re in the area, stop by and tell him how much you appreciate his efforts.

Domann checks every bag for contaminants.

Far West Fibers accepts zip ties and other plastic waste.

Our plastic bags alone filled an entire dumpster.