After six years of bike recycling, The Bike Station in Edinburgh has just welcomed its 25,000th bicycle. Having taken in over 6,000 bikes in 2010, the total now stands at 25,000 or 375 tonnes of bike since 2004. That's 375 tonnes of waste taken out of the waste stream - the same weight as nearly seven Edinburgh trams.

Bicycle number 25,000 was a vintage British-built steel ladies bike from the 1950s, still in very good condition. Of the 25,000 bikes received, 11,000 have been repaired and put back on the road.

Some Bike Station facts:

1896 - the year of manufacture of the oldest bike donated, now fully restored

86% - the percentage of people who buy a reconditioned bike from the Bike Station who would not otherwise buy a bike.

15kg - the average weight of a bicycle 66 bikes to a tonne

170 - the number of people who come and use the Bike Station's Fix Your Own Bike workshop each month to repair and service their cycles

262 - tonnes of coal saved by metal recycling/re-use

11,000 - numbers of donated bicycles repaired and put back on the road by the Bike Station

150,000 - the approximate number of bicycles in Edinburgh

What happens to an old bike?

Just over half the bikes donated are sold at Bike Station weekly bike sales, with all proceeds supporting the charity's work promoting cycling. Not every bike can be repaired - many are too damaged or rusty, or they are simply not worth repairing. Most of these bikes have at least some usable parts, which are taken off - everything from bells to wheels, racks to light brackets. These are used to repair other bikes or made available to cyclists as spare parts for their old bikes. The rest of the bike is then sent to a local metal recycling yard as scrap metal for recycling.

About the Bike Station

The Bike Station is Edinburgh and Perth's bicycle recycling and cycling promotion charity. It repairs unwanted bikes and puts them back on the road. The organisation also provides cycle training, bike maintenance training, and refurbished bikes to promote cycling as a healthy and sustainable means of transport across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Perth and Kinross and beyond. The Bike Station works to help people start cycling and continue cycling.

Keep recycling

The Bike Station takes all old, unused or discarded bicycles, no matter their age or condition, as well as bike parts and other bits. It's open for bike donations Monday - Saturday 8am to 5pm (til 8pm on a Wednesday). It can also collect donations.

The Bike Station operates in Edinburgh at 250 Causewayside, Newington, EH9 1UU250 and Perth at Mid Friarton Business Park, Friarton Road, Perth PH2 8EL.