[1]There is a way to recycle crutches that is easy, cheap and sustainable. Crutches4Africa
is an organization that collects used crutches, canes, walkers and a few wheelchairs and gets them to needy people worldwide, but first to Africa. There are millions of crutches a year that go into landfill and it is unacceptible to the founder of C4A David Talbot who had polio as a child and realizes the worth of mobility devices. When visiting Africa in 2005 to make a documentary video for Hope 4 Kids International[2] he saw the need of so many disabled Africans. It was incredible to think of all the used devices we have in our attics, basements or garages. We have people helping us collect and ship crutches in 5 states now and have been successful in getting over 8000 crutches in two years into the hands of the needy people in Africa. We have a polio survivor "on the ground" in Uganda who rents a motorbike and distributes up to 65 crutches, one pair at a time from his bike. Most recipients are polio survivors, but disease, accident, violence and war are also contributing factors in laming the populace. If you cannot help us directly, at least consider that the land fills cannot accept those items that are precious to others. Thank you.
