Stowmarket employer “retires” company cycles to reduce risk of injury

A large business in Stowmarket is “retiring“ its company bicycles to cut the risk of injury to staff.

Muntons, the malt and malted ingredient manufacturer, says the risk of accidents rose as the number of staff using the cycles on the 45 acre site increased.

Muntons has donated the 10 cycles to Re-cycle, which ships them to partners in Africa who run projects such as refurbishing, distributing and maintaining bikes.

Millions of people in Africa are forced to walk on average four hours every day to get to school or work or carry heavy loads such as water, crops and firewood.

The re-cycle bicycles provide swift transport, cutting these journey times down to as little as 20 minutes.

Muntons environmental manager Ryland Cairns said: “For some years now we have been implementing a programme to reduce waste to landfill, so finding a use for our surplus bikes, which not only avoided waste but provided real benefits for a genuinely meaningful cause, was a perfect solution which fitted well within our sustainability ethos.”