Booming bike-share programs create a sea of battered bikes

As countries become more eco-conscious, many people are turning to bikes as a way to cut down on traffic and emissions. Companies quickly cashed in on the bike-sharing bandwagon, especially in China.

Once known as the 'kingdom of bicycles,' China used to revere owning a bike as an achievement until cars became status symbols and bikes were given the cold shoulder to the point where bike riders were often mocked for it's 'backwardness.'

Currently, the bike revival is so strong that bicycle manufacturers are producing over a million bikes a month to keep up with the demand. With an estimated 50 million bike-share users at the end of this year, one has to wonder, where do all these bikes go when they're rendered useless?

See the mountains of bike scraps below:

Manufacturers aren't the only ones benefiting from the bike boom. Companies like Ofo are making a profit off of the cleanup. From inexperienced riders to vandalism and damages, Ofo rounds up discarded bikes and transports them to the island of misfit bikes: their repair shop. Once the damaged goods have arrived they are either stripped for parts or restored. While there may be fewer cars on the road, the piles of unusable bike parts seem as though they will rear their ugly heads in the future.

With a change in transportation, a revamp of regulations is usually not so far behind. Some residents aren't too happy with their streets and sidewalks being swarmed with bicycles and are looking for China to provide some order to the unruly riders. Prices are currently set at 1 yuan ($.15) an hour. With that price, we don't see the bike craze screeching to a halt anytime soon.