The starting signal has been given, the igus:bike® is on a world tour. To celebrate igus’s 60th birthday, the innovative, bright orange bicycle made from recycled plastic will be travelling the world for a whole year. The aim: to familiarise industry partners, media representatives and consumers with a new form of urban mobility that combines a fun ride with sustainability. The urban bike represents many of the advantages of igus products, the “motion plastics”: it does not rust, requires no oil and is virtually maintenance-free. The ball bearings, drive and freewheel also do not need lubricating as they are made from high-performance plastics. At the same time, the igus:bike is an example of how the transformation to a sustainable circular economy of plastics can succeed.
The renowned Belgian brewery Chimay, known for its traditional Trappist beer, relies on maintenance-free spherical bearings from igus in its bottling plant. By replacing rusty, seized ball bearings with lubrication-free igubal H3 bearing inserts, the brewery was able to increase efficiency and reduce maintenance.
Every year, several million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans. Around 1,600 rivers wash most of it into the sea. Plastic waste destroys marine ecosystems and contributes to the loss of biodiversity. To prevent it from spreading uncontrollably in the water and turning into microplastics, the start-up Plastic Fischer collects plastic waste from rivers in India and Indonesia – with the support of the Cologne-based plastics specialist igus, among others.
