Gafni, 50, has come up with a cardboard bicycle made of 100 per cent recycled materials.
The bike is inexpensive – so far it only costs $9 per unit to make and could sell for as little as $20 – and can potentially be used anywhere around the world, from crowded Third World cities to small villages in Africa.
Gafni has conducted many tests on the cardboard material he used to make the bike, and all have come back positive: the bike is durable and able to withstand many types of extreme weather conditions.
He says he coats the cardboard, made of wood pulp, with an undisclosed organic compound to make the material both waterproof and fireproof.
“I’m repeatedly surprised at just how strong this material is. It is amazing. Once we are ready to go to production, the bike will have no metal parts at all,” Gafni told Reuters.
His business partner, Nimrod Elmish, said, “This is a real game-changer. It changes… the way products are manufactured and shipped. It causes factories to be built everywhere instead of moving production to cheaper labor markets. Everything that we have known in the production world can change”
Also Elmish said that the pair’s business model means that rebates for using “green” materials could entirely cancel out the production costs, which could allow the bicycles to be given away for free in poor countries.
This will be of advantage to the people in need of the bikes, and it’s for a great cause.
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