Bicycle helmet recycling plan taking shape
The 41-year old self-described “energy and efficiency expert” who just moved to Portland in 2009 is putting his personal energy into figuring out how to recycle the foam, plastic shell, …
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Jepsen wants to change all that. He wants to keep helmets out of landfills, re-use the materials they’re made of, and someday, perhaps persuade the big helmet companies to make more earth-friendly versions.

“Helmets have a limited life span, they’re almost like a disposable product… But people don’t like to think that big chunk is going into the ground,” said Jepsen via telephone yesterday.

Jepsen’s interest in this topic began as a project for a Green Economics/Sustainability Development course he took at Portland State University. At the time he was also volunteering at the Community Cycling Center http://www.communitycyclingcenter.org/  and got to know employee Gram Shipley . Shipley told Jepsen about that the CCC wanted to do more helmet recycling, but it’s labor intensive, somewhat complicated, and with a lack of ongoing funding, the idea just fell by the wayside.

Here’s how it might work: Bike shops will have a large container where customers can drop off old helmets (Jepsen says several major shops are already interested); when the containers fill up, shops can arrange for pick up or drop off to a storage facility; volunteers (the BTA has already shown interest in helping out) will then gather once or twice a year to disassemble the helmets and haul the materials off to the appropriate recycling facility.

Even once the process is up and running (which is still a big if, given that Jepsen is volunteering and has no budget), the waste streams are “not ideal” for Jepsen. The plastic shells are shipped overseas and melted down into oil, the foam is melted down into a “sub-desirable foam product” and then shipped to China. The fabric and plastic buckles might be sent to a re-use store like the School and Community Re-use Action Project (SCRAP).