Why do people throw out old motors, bicycles, anything metal into rivers and lakes instead of a junk yard or the trash system?

I have been watching magnet fishing and people love to toss stuff over bridges without a second thought on the environmental impact. Hiding evidence I can almost understand but not lawnmowers, car batteries, etc.

It seems deeper fines should be made to discourage this terrible behavior.

chiliedogg ,

For big times like furniture, engines, toilets, construction debris, etc it's to save money. You can't throw those things in a dumpster, and a trip to my local dump costs $160.

Drusas , (edited )

Goddamn. It costs like thirty or forty bucks to throw out one of those items here (not construction debris--that's too big/heavy).

chiliedogg , (edited )

There's so much NIMBY about landfills they're rare and very far apart, so they can get away with charging 4x what's fair.

ThatWeirdGuy1001 ,
@ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world avatar

I mean to be fair having a landfill around would be one of the only things I'd be a NIMBY about.

I'd even accept a nuclear reactor over a landfill.

Cryophilia ,

Both are very safe? I don't understand

orcrist ,

Oh dear, you've already forgotten about Fukushima, and it was only 13 years ago. It was a safe power plant, until it wasn't, and then the city was destroyed.

Oh well, nobody could have predicted it. (Except for all of those people who did predict it. But let's not worry about them. Let's just forget about the whole event.)

Cryophilia ,

It got hit by a 9.0 earthquake AND a tsunami, and only ONE guy MAYBE died from radiation, FOUR YEARS later.

I remember Fukushima.

You never knew Fukushima. You only knew the bullshit shoveled into your ears.

sploosh ,

If it's big and metal there's a scrapyard that will, at the very least, take it off your hands for free. Free metal is free metal. Getting the big metal thing to the scrapyard is another story.

AA5B ,

It’s unfortunate that waste disposal is one of those things that gets cut back (see, it doesn’t work. Let’s save money). I was pleasantly surprised by my town having more traditional service where they’ll pick up anything. For something big, like furniture, they want you to call ahead so they can send a flatbed, but they’ll take just about anything.

Meanwhile, my ex a couple towns over, has to pay per bag and you’re on your own for anything big

corsicanguppy , (edited )

Tossing something off a bridge without going to get it (ha!) leaves a problem for 'the others'. I've seen conservatives talk about 'the others', be they immigrants or poors or blue-collar workers whondoman honest day's work, all derisively as if they're somehow lesswr-than.

Are we okay with leaving this kind of problem for working people, and in doing so looking like the lazy elitists that run half our governments as if they're the rulers and we're the scum? We don't want to look like the baddies, do we?

I worry how the voting will go on this one. Make me proud, okay?

electric_nan ,

It's mostly people that don't have or don't want to spend the money on the dump fees. Some localities have annual (or more frequent) days where workers pick up such items for free. This really cuts down on illegal dumping.

nutsack ,

I would add that driving all the way to the dump with something in a truck isn't something everyone's able to do

electric_nan ,

I'm sure it happens, but if you've loaded an appliance in your truck already, and are able to dump it down a ravine or beside the road, you can do the same at the dump.

shalafi ,

Around here you can leave it on the curb and someone will take it for metal. At worst you can find a guy on FB marketplace, Thrifty Nickel or some such that will pick up stuff for free.

SymbioteSynapse ,

A lot of it is stolen, stripped of what the theives want, and then dumped to get rid of evidence. Whatever is left anyway. The rest is simply because it's cheaper than bringing it to the landfill. Landfill is $12-15 for a truckload. The fine is (up to) $10000 for illegal dumping where I am. Lots of risk, but the likelihood of getting caught at night is so low that it isn't really a factor. Landfill really just needs to be free for individual residents. The amount the gov spends on cleanups is probably more than their $12.

Cryophilia ,

Around here landfill usage is completely focused on commercial users. Costs $250/ton. Least they can give you is a half-ton. So if I want to get rid of my old bike legally, that's $125.

citrusface ,

What a helpful system that doesn't contribute to littering and illegal dumping at all.

Grass ,

damn metal and electronics are free at the recycle station here. including bikes, appliances, broken screen leftover from phone repair, etc

bloodfart ,

They won’t pick it up from the curb so you gotta take it to the dump or landfill where you’re either charged to dump it or if it’s free your tax records are checked or if they don’t it’s only taken on certain days and hours.

That’s if you have the ability to transport it to the dump.

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