These bikes were recovered from Reindeer Lake near Southend. (Submitted photo/Ralph Olson)

By Derek Cornet

water pollution

Dozens of bikes recovered from Reindeer Lake at Southend

Sep 8, 2021 | 5:00 PM

Ralph Olson believes kids just don’t understand the pollution they’re causing when they throw bicycles into Reindeer Lake.

Olson, who lives in Toronto but travels back to his home community of Southend every summer, recently pulled approximately 20 bikes from the water at a popular swimming spot. That’s in addition to another 20 he recovered from the same area two years ago.

“It’s just kids. I grew up here and I’ve seen that too,” he said. “It’s just kids out of jealousy or bike thieves. They will ride the bike, but they don’t want to get caught or they are jealous of the person who got the bike, then they will throw it over the cliff into the water where they swim.”

To remove the bikes, Olson used a homemade device consisting of a heavy rope and 10-inch nails fashioned into a hook. While some of the bikes can’t be salvaged, he noted others are repairable and need simple work like new chains or handlebars.

Olson explained with the bikes that can’t be fixed, he’d like to build a Christmas tree using the parts.

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“Some of them are repairable, but I don’t have the tools. I don’t have any repair kits. It would be nice to have all that,” he said, adding it would be a good idea for someone to start a bicycle repair shop in Southend. “A lot of these kids, I see them on the road and, if their chain comes off and they are frustrated and give up, they just dump the bike on the side of the road.”

This load of discarded bikes was recovered in 2019. (Submitted photo/Ralph Olson)

Olson wanted to stress, however, the pollution caused by bikes being discarded in Reindeer Lake. If parents notice their child’s bike has gone missing, he encourages them to check the spot bikes are known to be thrown in.

“With kids, they just don’t get the big picture of what they do,” Olson said. “I don’t want to blame the parents, but it’s all about growing up, just common sense.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno