Bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters and electric skateboards
Bicycles and personal mobility devices are reusable, fixable, and can be sold or recycled for scrap metals. They must not go in your household recyclable bin.
Personal mobility device are small lightweight vehicles operating at low speeds. These include bikes, electric bikes, electric scooters, electric skateboards, shared bicycle fleets, and electric pedal assisted (pedelec) bicycles. Many of these devices contain batteries which are hazardous waste at their end of life.
Disposal options
- Give to a friend, donate to charity or sell online.
- Cycle Jam is a weekly meetup at the Canberra Environment Centre in Acton for anyone who wants to fix or maintain a bicycle.
- If requiring minor/moderate repair, drop off at Canberra Environment Centre – Recyclery who refurbish bikes and sell for a fee, or they refurbish and donate to a person in need via GIVIT.
- Most personal mobility vehicles can be repaired and reused. Recycling device components reduces the amount of material going to landfill.
- Broken or old bicycles or personal mobility devices made predominantly of 80% metal can be recycled free. Take to a scrap metal yard or drop at:
- Rubber inner tubes (such as those found in bicycle and car tyres) must be disposed of in your landfill bin.
- E-bike and e-scooter batteries are not strictly included in the B-cycle scheme but some drop-off points in the ACT are able to accept these batteries. Find your closest drop-off point using B-cycle and call ahead to confirm if they are able to accept these. If not, please dispose of these batteries for free at the hazardous waste table at the ACT Government Resource Management Centres.
- If the battery of your electric personal mobility device is not removable by the user, talk with the supplier regarding recovery options. Devices with batteries are hazardous waste at their end of life and must not be placed in the landfill or recycling bins.
Why?
Bikes can be repaired and reused. Recycling bicycle components reduces the amount of material going to landfill. Batteries are classed as hazardous waste and can cause a fire hazard. They should be disposed of correctly.