Ethics of carbon fiber?

[45K10]

Decent interview, worth a read
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/carbon...c-project.html

[thwart]

That is interesting. Another good reason to think twice before buying a 'plastic fantastic' bike.

Aluminum is 100% recyclable, and there is a growing need for aluminum in the world. This means that even though aluminum needs a lot of electricity and the mining of Bauxite is not safe; we are helping society in the long term by adding more aluminum to the pool of material available to recycle. This means that every bike we make is going to be recycled to a different product after its life has ended.

Carbon is not recyclable, and the resin used in the frame is toxic. Most of the jobs that involve resins are ranked high in the health risk jobs. There is no need for recycled carbon fiber at the moment, and there is not a worldwide process that would recycle carbon fiber products. I can’t say how much of this problem is from bikes as the biggest carbon waste comes from airplanes, but still, there's not enough carbon waste that it would be a business – it's landfill material after use. The most toxic part of the carbon frame is the resin.

[peanutgallery]

Part PR and/or part naive, IMHO

The comments are hilarious

And every vehicle is a similar sized hole in the earth. Himalayan sea salt is imported by a freighter that pollutes more than thousands of TDIs. Don't get me started on the unregulated engines that they use in the tow motors

Humans...we'll be the death of us

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

Part PR and/or part naive, IMHO

The comments are hilarious

And every vehicle is a similar sized hole in the earth. Himalayan sea salt is imported by a freighter that pollutes more than thousands of TDIs. Don't get me started on the unregulated engines that they use in the tow motors

Humans...we'll be the death of us

You must love your childeren. Every step to improves helps. Dont give up.

[dancinkozmo]

Originally Posted by joosttx

You must love your childeren. Every step to improves helps. Dont give up.

^ this !

[Davist]

Quite honestly, this pales in comparison to what will happen with the widespread use of Lithium based batteries (or their equally toxic predecessor, Cadmium). The "old" lead acid batteries can be 97% recycled, but power density isn't there (which shouldn't make a difference in, renewable energy storage for example, but they're going Li-Ion as well, including the much ballyhooed Tesla Powerwall). EV batteries are considered "used up" when they hit 80% capacity. Lithium is cheaper to mine than recycle and about as toxic as could be..

[rwsaunders]

If I can't reuse, repurpose or recycle something, I always ask myself why it is made. In the commercial construction industry, LEED has had a mega impact on questioning the design, as well as the process and procedures involved with the construction and operations of a building. I'm sure that other industries have similar guidelines, and it would make sense that the manufacturing and use of carbon fiber has industry guidelines and policies as well. It's not going away anytime soon...just look at the aviation, aerospace and automotive applications.

[BobbyJones]

Originally Posted by joosttx

You must love your childeren. Every step to improves helps. Dont give up.

We're all hypocrites when it comes to stuff like this. Best to be realistic.

[summilux]

I call a big BS on this one. A guy goes to a totalitarian country with almost no labour laws, little manufacturing safety guidelines, lax to non-existent environmental regulations and he's worried about the ethics of recycling? Sounds like a cover story for someone who found out that the manufacturing costs in China were too high for him and and he didn't want to take to plane to Bangladesh.

[quehill]

I don't care whether it's AL or carbon, I want one of those Pole Evolinks SO DANG BAD. Handling is supposed to be game changing.

[parallelfish]

Looks like no one bothered to google "carbon fiber recycling".

[sjbraun]

He sort of glosses over the environmental costs of AL production. And since when does anyone take their old AL frames to the recycling center?

My guess is AL frames get him to a price point he needs to meet to insure profitability.

[malbecman]

I live in Davis, CA which is easily one of the largest tomato growing regions in the entire US...this time of year, there are scores of tomatoes littering the sides of all the country roads as all those double trailer truck rush them off to the processing plants around here (Hunts, Campbell, etc).

I go to my local grocery store last night to get some stuff for dinner and I'm thinking how good a nice, fresh, juicy tomato will taste on my burger...both the regular and organic tomatoes had signs "Grown in Mexico".

[FlashUNC]

I'd worry more about the varieties of e-waste out there over the damage some carbon fiber bicycles are causing.

Sure, its not zero-sum, but the issues facing the environment are far larger than some high zoot race bikes.

[45K10]

If you read the comments section, Pole bicycles states that "working in factories is not for humans"

That seems like a weird take me. I know factories can be hazardous places to work without proper industrial safety / hygiene practices but not everyone can design bikes at a desk.