Long Beach Press Telegram: A joke for bicyclers

[question everything]

Long Beach Press Telegram

A joke for bicyclers

Saturday, March 19, 2005 - Democratic Assemblywoman Betty Karnette must be playing a little joke on us. She is pretending to be serious about a bill she has introduced that would slap a $7 recycling fee on one of the most recycled of cycles, the bicycle.

The idea, she told the weekly Grunion Gazette, would be to reduce landfill waste, increase the number of second-hand bikes for those who can't afford new ones, and encourage the use of pollution-free bike riding. Get it?

No? Neither did anyone interviewed by a Gazette reporter, Steve Irsay.

Not a city recycling official, who said he doesn't really see many bikes in the trash pickups. Not a bicycle retailer, who said this sounds suspiciously like a tax to him. Not a biking lobbyist, who said cyclers support recycling, but would regard this as punitive. Not even the local operator of a bicycle recycling program for at-risk juveniles, who said it seems to him there are so many issues that are more important.

More..

http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21479~2771980,00.html#

[seemunkee]

1. I've seen lots of bikes at the recyclers

Probably 50 at a time whenever I go. I asked about getting them for one of the groups that sends them to 3rd world countries. The recyclers weren't very open to allowing the organizations in.
I have no idea what happens to them. Probably end up just melted down