Buy a bike, pay a disposal fee!

[pk]

From BRAIN:

Buy A Bike In California, Pay A $7 Disposal Fee?

FEBRUARY 24, 2005 -- SACRAMENTO, CA (BRAIN)--Under a bill recently introduced in California, anyone who buys a new bike should pay the state $7 for the machine's eventual disposal. Assembly Bill No. 1103 would establish the Bicycle Recycling and Disposal Program.

Betty Karnette, a Democrat from Long Beach who introduced the bill, would exempt used bicycle sales from the charge. The bill points out that California has an escalating number of bicycles slated for disposal. More 250,000 bicycles are disposed of in the state annually. Fewer than 3,000 of them are recycled.

The scarcity of bicycle reuse, recycling and disposal centers, and the charges imposed on consumers for landfilling used bicycles create economic disincentives for recycling that could be addressed through a recycling incentive program.

An additional $7 on a high-end road bike would not be significant, but on $25 mass market bike it would add significantly to consumer cost and potentially impact sales.

For more information on the bill contact Ravi Meta at Capitol Advocates at (916) 449-3917.

Source: http://www.bicycleretailer.com/bicycleretailer/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000816607

[splat]

I think you are going to see more and more of this on more and more products as time goes by .

But is this a bad thing ?

[Slider]

This made me go back and count how many bikes I've "disposed" of. I suppose this would lead to a new thread but in the meanwhile, here goes.

Frames I've broken:

Nashbar: 2
This was back when I didn't know any better. I also learned that trees do not move.

Bridgestone MB1: 3
I was learning to discern a good bike, but was definitely too big for this light steel frame.

Specialized M2: 5
Metal matrix was NOT appropriate for a bike frame, at least not under me.

Dean: 2
Ti is not unbreakable, but it does last longer than anything else.

12 frames @ $7 each = $84

I'm sure Dean recycled the titanium, and maybe the steel was recast. I have no idea what you do with metal matrix. Prolly it'll sit in a landfill for many millenia.

Slider

[Jisch]

I actually have never disposed of a bike. I didn't think of that until Slider put up his numbers... I've been riding MTBs since '88 or so?

Zebra rigid - technically it was my wife's first mtb. it still hangs in my garage, probably ready for disposal, but I can't get myself to get rid of it. It weighs in the upper 40s.

GT Timberline rigid - my first bike. I stripped the frame of parts after 4 years of hard use (it was pretty spent). I put it out for the garbage on "big trash day", by morning someone had come by and taken it.

Cannondale Delta V#1 - Burned in a fire. Stripped the frame of the burned parts and gave it to a guy at work.

Cannondale Delta V#2 - rebuilt after I got my next bike, wife still rides it

Cannondale CAAD3 frame - Still used as back up/road/ice bike

Hammerhead 100x - still awaiting replacement frame - wait - the front triangle on this bike was probably disposed of by Titus. $3.50?

John

[bdee]

I put both the aluminum frames I broke out for recycling (one Specialized M2 and half of the Jamis) - the other half of the Jamis made a nice leverage add on for bigger diameter tools. Both were picked up (I watched the recycling guys take them). I labeled each as "aluminum". I have no clue if they were ever recycled, but the fact they took them was promising, they usually toss anything they won't take to the curb. I've put out old aluminum handlebars and stems and they were labeled as well. I can't think of a part they didn't take.

[AA]

I have never put a bike in the trash EVER. I have put a few aluminum frames in the recycle pile at work but none have ever seen the land fill.

[steve_b]

Typical gov't BS fee/tax. Aren't most people who use a dump or landfill allready paying taxes towards garbage disposal? Some dumps even charge you more on top of this, depending on what you are throwing away. Do I get my money back if I move, sell the bike, or just keep it forever? It may only be $7, but I classify it in the same league as an excise tax on auto's. ::)

[Quo Fan]

In the years I've been biking, The only bikes I've "disposed" of are the department store bikes that I rode when I started. When I started buying "real" bikes, I have yet to dispose of a frame. Most of the parts I've recycled into newer bikes, or kept around as emergency spares. The only "real" bike that is still in pieces, is my Marin Bolinas Ridge that was my first real mountain bike.

[digger]

I wonder where the $7 goes until the bike needs to be recycled? Does the state of CA fund solid waste and recycling out of the general fund? Certainly in MA, little state resources are expended in this area, mostly it's a municipality or end user who take the financial responsibility. Those who recycle regularly have no problem recycling their bike when needed, so this looks like a scam. And one that may discourage the purchase of low-end bikes for transportation.

DS

[jaime]

I don't really have a problem with this. It might be a bit misguided (i.e. maybe we should look at charging a premium for disposal of used computer monitors & TV's first?), but if it causes people to consider their purchase a little more carefully to begin with, don't we all benefit a little bit? The posts above seem to support my point in that most of the folks on the forum haven't had a big issue with throwing away bikes.

The only bike I've thrown away (as an adult) is the one my wife bought (Walmart: $119) over my objections shortly after I "got it" as far as cycling is concerned. Had she spent the $400 I wanted her to then, she'd be on the same bike today, except with better bits & pieces. I never ever remind her of this.

If it's a tax, as mentioned above, then it's an ignorance tax and not a bike tax. Granted, I'm not sure that's any better.....

j.

[Jisch]

I just thought of something. I think I was looking at this thing too narrowly. How many tires, pads, cables etc. have I thrown away :-[

John

[sizlinseagulsoup]

Screw that, I want a $50 dollar deposit on frames like they do for cans. You have no idea how much money I could make picking frames out of dumpsters.

[TrailBate]

Why don't the dumps just charge you for the bike when you drop it off? My dump makes me pay extra for mattresses and refrigerators.....
How about a disposal tax on cars? $50 for a compact car, $500 for an suv. Yep, starting the SUV argument again....

[comtom1]

I think this is another scam to take the hard earned money of the everyday tax payer the machines that they claim to have to pay to get ride of are made of steel and i happen to know a lot of guys that would love to get their hands on them and cut them up because you can still get so much a pound for junk at the local scrap yard being in the heavy truck repai business we have a junk man that comes every week to take the old brake drums and other scrap for cash so you make sense of that bill i dont see any sense of it at all

[radair]

I think this is another scam to take the hard earned money of the everyday tax payer the machines that they claim to have to pay to get ride of are made of steel and i happen to know a lot of guys that would love to get their hands on them and cut them up because you can still get so much a pound for junk at the local scrap yard being in the heavy truck repai business we have a junk man that comes every week to take the old brake drums and other scrap for cash so you make sense of that bill i dont see any sense of it at all


Wow, that's the best run-on sentence I've ever seen on this forum!

Locally, most towns fund their solid waste disposal, so I don't see how it could be justified to pay at the State level.

If it's a steel frame, give it to AOF!

[ArmOnFire]

If it's a steel frame, give it to AOF!


Heck ya!

You must've read my mind radair!

Once I figure out the DAN trailer (http://www.nemba.org/yabbse/attachments/dantrailer1.jpg), I could recycle the frames and give'em to other trail ambassadors.

[comtom1]

I cant say punctuation is my strongest asset but i try.

[pk]

BRAIN got in touch with the person sponsoring the bill. Here's what she said:
--------
Karnette said there are three main reasons behind her bill, AB 1103: reducing waste into landfills, reusing and recycling bikes, and reducing pollution.

California state law mandates that 50 percent of any city or county's waste must be recycled, composted or otherwise dealt with in a manner that doesn't send it to a landfill. California trashes about 250,000 bikes annually now.

"I really am interested in reusing and recycling bikes, and everything else for that matter. The next generation will have to be more concerned with this than mine. Landfills are filling up. The air is getting worse. Recycling is the way to do it," Karnette said. "Riding is not only good for the environment, it's good for your health. This bill brings the subject to the fore."

The $7 fee would be charged at the retail level, to anyone selling a new bike. The bill would establish the Bicycle Recycling and Disposal Program. It would also create "reCycling" centers to refurbish and redistribute the bikes, either to low-income California residents or to BikeStations, for commuters to use for free.

"I really want to push getting people out of their cars, or if they don't have cars, I want to give them a bike," Karnette said.

More here: http://www.bicycleretailer.com/bicycleretailer/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000817554

[TrailBate]

I really don't see how this is going to keep anyone from buying a bike. I mean, it's only $7.

But how is it fair to single out bikes to pay for recycling efforts? Biking is a clean mode of transportation AND good exercise. Why punish them? If anything, it should be rewarded!

if you make people pay more money for bikes, while at the same time you take away places to bike, while cars on the road get bigger and smellier, what are we doing here? How about taking that $7 to fund more bike trails, or to put those bicycle lanes on roads? Give people a reason to bike more and drive less!

This is just another "hidden" tax, plain and simple.

next there will be an extra fee for buying porn, since that all has to be disposed of, too! Anyone read Survivor, by Chuck Palahniuk? That was in there.....