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PEDAL PEOPLE NEWS SUMMER 2025

   

Contents:

  • Readers Choice Winner - Best Recycling Service
  • Blue Bag discount
  • Support the "Opportunity to Own" bill
  • A cycling map for the Hampshire County
  • Bike Lab
  • Check Us Out on Social Media!

Daily Hampshire Gazette - Best Recycling Service 2025


We're honored to have been voted the best recycling service provider in all of Hampshire County for 2025!


Thanks to the Daily Hampshire Gazette for the accolade, and to any of our admirers out there who voted for us. We’d also like to thank our trailers who keep the trash rolling through thick and thin, our tires for keeping us grounded, and our stylists, who keep us… visible.

Sign up for the Blue Bag discount


We're looking for a few more customers in certain regions to sign up for our blue bag discount, where you buy the blue bags instead of us, and we discount your bill 22%.


The Northampton DPW “smart” bag system is designed to reduce trash and increase recycling, and customers may find that buying bags makes them more aware of the volume of trash they produce. Bags can be purchased at Big Y and Stop and Shop on King st, Coopers Corner, State Street Grocery and either River Valley Coop store. To check your eligibility and to sign up, visit this link on our website.

Support the Opportunity to Own Bill!

The Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops (VAWC) - a network of cooperatives in the Pioneer Valley, including founding member Pedal People, is championing an exciting new bill that's currently before the Massachusetts legislature.


Co-authored by former Pedal Person Ethan Tulepo and the Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP), the bill aims to make it easier for businesses being sold to convert into worker cooperatives.


This effort hopes to make an impact in addresses the looming “Silver Tsunami”—a wave of retiring business owners in Massachusetts and across the US, threatening local economies:

  • Nearly half of MA businesses are owned by Baby Boomers, most with no succession plan

  • Only 15% of businesses pass to a second generation

  • 80% of businesses don't sell at all

  • Just 20% of Northeast business owners have a succession plan

  • Over 50% of MA businesses are owned by people aged 55+, 20% by those 65+

Worker cooperatives are a proven solution!

  • They're 5% more productive than traditional businesses

  • 7% more likely to survive their first decade

  • Have 15% lower employee turnover

  • Broadly inclusive: 57% of worker-owners are people of color, 62% identify as women

The bill, known as Opportunity-To-Own, provides a built-in pathway for business retention by supporting informed buyouts, benefiting both owners and workers.


Want to help? Ask your local Representative and/or Senator legislator to support OTO. Find your Legislator here.


Learn more from the VAWC fact sheet.

   

Can Schematic Bicycle Maps Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

There is a research team from UMass that is working in conjunction with the City of Northampton to create a Schematic map for bicycle routes in the valley, with the aim of making the jumble of bike paths, bike lanes, public transport connections and Valley Bike Share locations much easier to interpret and understand. You may have unknowingly already participated in this project as there are counters already installed on bike paths/multi use paths in Northampton, Hadley and Amherst to track usage! 


If you'd like to participate more, and earn $7 in amazon gift vouchers, why not fill out this survey to bolster the data being collected by narslab.

   

BIKE LAB SUMMER 2025

Join us at Bike Lab every other Saturday from 11:30am-2:30pm at 12 Northern Ave in Northampton to learn how to fix your bike! Check out our website for current info about what dates Bike Lab will be running in Summer 2025. The next Bike Labs will be August 16th and August 30th!


Got questions about Bike Lab, or can’t make it on Saturdays? Contact Ruthy by email or call/text 413-341-2522 to set up a time to learn about riding safety or bike maintenance!
   

CATCH PEDAL PEOPLE ON INSTAGRAM

If you’re on social media, make sure you’re following us to meet your friendly neighborhood haulers and to stay up to date on goings-on in the collective! Find us @pedal_people_coop.


Bike on,

Pedal People

   

Our mailing address is PO Box 415 Northampton, MA 01061-0415

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