Climate Action Newcastle member Craig Boggon is excited to share some of the less obvious second-hand loves in his life.
I love my cycling as you know. The last couple of "new bikes" for me have been second-hand.
The bike in the photo is from Recyke y’bike https://recyke.bike/. The bike is made in Newcastle (unlike me!) and that's it at Tynemouth.
They have great schemes to help those in need as well as safety checking and getting people back to work! They have a great community hub in Newcastle and Durham.
Second-hand is always best – it has a story, helps local employment and reduces overproduction of a road worthy bike!
They also work with Cycle of Good to recycle old bike tyres, inner tubes into functional items! For my Birthday last year I got a lovely shoulder bag https://www.cycleofgood.com/.
As well as this a large majority of my casual clothes come from charities. I really missed charity shopping during the lockdowns – recent visits yielded a treasure of Dixit card game!
My partner and I are regular uses of Gumtree (did you know it now has a rental/borrow section?!) and Freecycle.
Honestly the best, alternative "second-hand" is our adopted dog, Luna from Bryson's Animal Shelter! She was initially so nervous especially of men and myself. She's a great running buddy! We give her so much love and she returns it! #Adoptdontshop
There are lots of little things people can do – second-hand isn't necessarily a bad thing and often has a large impact!