So I went to my local REI the other day to pick up the new rain pants and bike helmet I'd ordered -- a fancy new MIPS helmet (Matt had convinced me that it was time to get a new one that better protected my witty cranium). On the bike ride over, I got to thinking about how I buy myself a new bike helmet about every year or so, and how I've been learning along with my students how challenging it is to dispose of some materials. I have a pretty good idea of what can be recycled curbside in DC; clothing I don't wear any more ends up at a clothing swap or Goodwill; I bring my compost to the farmers market now; and I've even gotten Matt to start saving plastic bags beyond reuse to take to the plastic bag recycling bin at the grocery store. But what the heck can I do with old bike helmets? I have gone through a lot of them over the past ten years, and I hope to be biking for many more years to come.
You probably know, readers, that if you are in a crash in which your bike helmet makes contact with anything substantial, you need to replace it asap. Some of you might not know that bike helmets become less effective over time -- even without daily/regular usage, the helmet materials become less effective in just a few years, and should be replaced. So most people should be replacing bicycle helmets every 1-3 years. But for all I could find on the all-knowing Internet, there does not seem to be a place to send old helmets for recycling. Even REI -- one of the most environmentally conscious companies I know -- doesn't recycle them or offer a solution to the problem. I know this because I asked at customer service when I was picking up my new helmet. (They did recycle the cardboard box the new one came in, at least.)
The next day, at a World Food Day event I was at in Anacostia -- I wore my new helmet on the ride there and was still noodling on this problem on the ride over -- I got to talking with some folks about this conundrum and one of them told me they'd read an article recently about meal worms that eat Styrofoam. What?! I came home and looked that up later, of course. Maybe a stepping stone would be for REI and other sellers of bicycle helmets to have bins of these meal worms, Yeah, that'll happen.... but it still doesn't account for the outer hard plastic part or the straps.
Here is my challenge for you, readers: FIND a friend or relative who is an engineer. Encourage them to invent a SAFE-BUT-RECYCLABLE bicycle helmet.
The person who comes up with a solution will make millions. They should remember us little people when they do. All I ask for is a lifetime supply of these helmets. And maybe a few weeks a year at their apartment in Paris... because if I became a millionaire I would of course have an apartment in Paris to visit from time to time and would let friends stay there.
