Reuse, recycle, keep a small footprint and minimize rubbish for landfill.
At Scooter Central we are proud of our reusing and recycling efforts and for a very busy retail store and workshop getting loads of products and packaging delivered we put out one small rubbish bin a week. How do we do that? We reuse and recycle and re-purpose everything we can.
Our scooters are delivered in large cardboard boxes and the scooters are anchored on timber frames. There is packaging inside to protect the bikes as well. Some come in smaller boxes without the front wheel on and many have accessories like racks and screens to assemble too. We unbox and uncrate the scooters and cart the cardboard to the recyclers and the timber is also recycled or reused. The clear plastics are collected to recycle separately. The bikes are assembled, battery charged and fuel put in as well as a thorough check over and test ride before going to the showroom floor.
During regular servicing and maintenance we change oil and save it to be recycled, change batteries and collect them for recycling, change tyres and filters which are also recycled and replace and repair panels and parts that we recycle. Once a scooter is at the end of its useful life or if one has been written off by getting knocked over, we strip it down and save any useful parts to reuse. Often parts can be held up in back orders with suppliers or are difficult to find for older models so we have a good supply of various second-hand parts that can be used to help customers get back on the road faster or to find a cost-effective solution to their bike’s issues. Once we have exhausted all the usable parts on a wreck, we drain the petrol and oil to recycle, remove all the plastic to recycle and take the metal frame and leftover metal parts to the metal recycler. Very little remains that cannot be reused or recycled. It does cost us in time and management but we firmly believe that we need to do our best to protect the environment.
We get boxes and satchels and padded bags delivered to us throughout the day with parts, accessories and rider apparel. We reuse packaging so you may get something delivered in an odd box or a pre-used satchel or padded bag. We have plenty of bubble wrap that comes to us in those packages and we package our shipments safely reusing those materials. We do have to buy some satchels for shipping but not many and we are excited as we have just found some non-plastic corn starch biodegradable ones that can go in your home compost to use for smaller shipments. You may also already own our handy reusable Scooter Central shopping bags.
Our busy in store coffee machine gives us coffee grounds to put in our gardens here and at home. We recycle paper, printer cartridges and even lots of our storage shelving has been picked up from the tip and use repurposed timber scooter frames for shelves. We replaced all the fluorescent lights with LEDs and turn on the air conditioners as little as possible. It is the little things that all add up.
All in all, Scooter Central works hard to minimise our environmental impact as a retailer and this dovetails well with our fuel-efficient Euro 5 rated clean burning scooters and our electric scooters which leave a relatively small carbon footprint. We just thought you might like to know that!