Bikes Turned into Mini Power Plants

Unwanted bicycles are being sent from the United States and Canada to be made into power sources that drive corn grinders and water pumps in Guatemala. An organization called Maya Pedal is the force behind the effort to help poor people increase their corn grinding potential greatly so they can have more food, and sell their corn or corn products more easily. Maya Pedal also converts old bicycles into threshers, tile makers, nut shellers, blenders, trikes and trailers.

Just to be clear, it is humans who pedal the old bikes once they have been converted, so it is human power, but the bike technology is the means for doing the work that otherwise is done by hand. Guatemala is one of the poorer countries in the world with a per capita annual income of $4,690.

Maya Pedal has several partners in Guatemala to help them provide bike machines to people in need to help them produce more food and save time. In North America, Bikes not Bombs in Boston has collected and shipped two containers of old, but functional bikes to Guatemala. Working Bikes in Chicago has shipped one container of bikes there. Pedal Energy Development Alternatives in Vancouver, Canada has been instrumental in supporting Maya Pedal, and has sent a number of interns to Guatemala who have helped get the organization up and running.

If you have unused bikes, and want to donate them, try contacting a local biking organization to see if they are capable of collecting and shipping them, or if they have any interest in starting a project to send them in the way Bikes not Bombs did. If you are in Boston, Chicago or Vancouver you could contact those organizations directly. If they aren’t any options available in your area for donating bikes to Maya Pedal, you could email one of the above organizations and ask if you could send your old bikes to them, so they can pass them on. Another bike donation organization, Bike for the World, sends bikes to African countries.

Image Credit: AndrewDressel

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Aleksandra L.

10:18PM PDT on Oct 15, 2011

we need bikes not bombs bike donation in the bay area.

send a green star

Anne F.

6:32PM PDT on Oct 8, 2011

Bicycle powered slushie maker is a hit at all sorts of festivals and fairs.

Robert O.

12:26PM PDT on Oct 7, 2011

Neat. Thanks Jake.

KS G.

5:00AM PDT on Jun 19, 2011

Thanks for the article.

Jo A.

1:06AM PDT on May 23, 2011

Make old bikes work instead of manual work ,,, great idea! great help for farm workers!

John S.

5:49AM PDT on May 14, 2011

Great idea.

Sofia B.

8:37AM PST on Feb 27, 2011

They have been working since 1998 and I've never heard of them! Better start spreading the word, these pretty simple solutions help make the day a little easier for hard working people, something all of us should encourage.

As for getting something in developed countries: not if you don't build it yourself. But think of all one could learn doing it...

Eternal G.

8:40PM PST on Feb 12, 2011

Ultra cool!

JM D.

6:29PM PST on Jan 26, 2011

cool idea