How does using your feet as brakes make it “green”?
What they’re saying is that the bikes are carrying so much weight that the brakes alone aren’t enough to stop on a hill.
and when the tubs are full the entire load—waste, trailer, bike, Ibarra—adds up to almost eight hundred pounds. “Uphill is really hard,” he said the other day. “But, actually, uphill is a lot easier than downhill. Going downhill, I have the hand brakes pressed on, but the bike is still going.” To stop completely, he has to use his feet, Fred Flintstone style.
If he had disk brakes he might do better, yet 800lbs provides a lot of momentum.