Recycle Your Bicycle program begins Sept. 12

Fall is a great time to get rid of clutter, including unwanted bikes that are taking up space in your garage. 

The Forest Preserve District’s Recycle Your Bicycle program is the perfect solution. Bikes can be donated from Saturday, Sept. 12, through Sunday, Sept. 27, at Forest Preserve locations throughout Will County. 

"Just a few years ago, Monee Reservoir was the only Forest Preserve location that served as a drop-off site for bikes," said Cindy Wojdyla Cain, the Forest Preserve's public information officer. "But the recycling effort proved to be so popular, and the bikes are used for such a worthy cause, that four more Forest Preserve locations were added to the mix." 

The five fall bike recycling sites are: 

• Hidden Oaks Preserve, Bolingbrook: 8 a.m.-sunset. The bike drop is located on the southwest side of the parking lot.
• Isle a la Cache Museum, Romeoville: 8 a.m. to sunset. The bike drop is located in the far west parking lot near the latrine.
• McKinley Woods – Kerry Sheridan Grove, Channahon: 8 a.m. to sunset. The bike drop is centrally located in the Four Rivers Environmental Education Center parking lot.
• Monee Reservoir: 6 a.m. to sunset. The bike drop is centrally located in the Monee Reservoir Visitor Center parking lot.
• Sugar Creek Preserve: 8 a.m. to sunset. The bike drop is located at the north end of the far west parking lot.

The bikes are collected for Chicago-based Working Bikes, an organization that has been refurbishing and distributing bikes locally and globally to those in need since 1999. 

"We work toward a world where everyone has access to bicycle transportation — whether in Africa, Latin America, or Chicago — and where bicycles are the most reliable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly transportation available," according to the Working Bikes website.  

No bike is too old or rusty to be donated to the program. Bike parts also are accepted. 

The Forest Preserve's program, which began in 2011, has grown from a once-a-year bike drive at one location to spring and fall events now at multiple Forest Preserve locations. More than 3,000 bikes have been collected since the program's start. 

"No matter how many times we offer the program, more bikes are donated," Cain said. "It's nice to know that unused bikes are going to the people who need them and aren't just taking up space or collecting cobwebs."