ATHENS — The University of Georgia’s Office of Sustainability has teamed up with students for environmental change.

The office is putting $5,000 from a grant back into the community. The reCYCLE program is turning abandoned bikes into fully functional modes of transportation. Students from Students for Environment Action tagged abandoned bikes, are fixing them up and giving them out.

Students interested in receiving a bike filled out an application and wrote an essay explaining why they need the bicycles. reCYCLE hopes to see more bikers on the road and, in turn, make Athens into a larger and better biking community.

Grady Newsource reporter Sophie Archer is talking with Athens bikers about the program.

​Jason Perry is the program coordinator at the UGA Office of Sustainability. He said there are several dangers of unreliable bike lanes for riders in the Athens community.

​Ian Crosby is one of the students involved in fixing up the bikes. Here he talks about how participants are chosen for the program and how the bikes go from old and abandoned to shiny and new!

​Daniel will receive a bike from the re-CYCLE program. He has already picked out a bike from the inventory.

His bike was stolen last semester and he relied on the bike to get to and from campus. He is a student journalist who needs reliable transportation to get to different interviews all over campus. Here he talks about a different aspect of riding a bike versus in a car that he loves.