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.

InternetUser2012 ,

I may or may not have done this back in my youth. If I did, it was because I had no idea how to dispose of a broken engine block. Now, I could set it at the curb and a scrapper will have it in their truck within a couple hours.

Mubelotix ,
@Mubelotix@jlai.lu avatar

Sometimes it's stolen material

corroded ,

People do this because they're crackheads (or heroin addicts, or methheads, you get the idea). It's not a poverty issue, it's a drug issue. The person working a minimum wage job and sharing a studio apartment isn't going to dispose of their old bicycle in the river. The person who steals a bike and realizes they can't sell it to get their next fix probably isn't going to have a problem dumping it in a lake or river. They're already leaving needles on the playground, shitting on the sidewalk, and assaulting innocent people for not giving them a cigarette. Do you really think they give a damn about the environmental impact of dumping their stolen goods in a waterway?

spujb ,

Misinformation, you are lying.

Many factors contribute to higher illegal disposal rates. As stated by many researchers, the most common reason is poor waste management infrastructure, such as waste collection facilities and transportation [6,7,8]. Therefore, providing infrastructure may be a solution to reduce these business-as-usual (BAU) practices [9]. However, Sedova et al. found that illegal dumping behavior is also influenced by other factors such as education level, awareness, dumping cost, and income level [10]. Dumping costs are related to low-income communities. Communities tend to participate in illegal dumping practices rather than pay a certain amount of money [8]. source

sp3tr4l ,

I mean, I believe those studies, but I've also been homeless, been through shelters and camps and have known people who would just toss their broken shit into the woods or a river, whether it legitimately be theirs, or if they stole it.

Obviously not all homeless people do this, but some of them do.

This kind of stuff is usually the most visible to your average joe... so its not accurate to say it does not happen.

But at the same time, its likely that at a more grand societal level, those studies are fairly accurate.

I would be interested if the methodologies of those studies even took into account the homeless population.

Homeless people are kind of notoriously difficult to study or survey, as they are often migratory, have no... you know, permanent residence, and often do not want to be bothered.

spujb , (edited )

You may be misreading something? We are definitely in agreement but you frame it as though we are not.

The person I responded to said “It's not a poverty issue, it's a drug issue.” I made the comment to combat that ridiculous Reagan-era bs.

edit: Also the full text of the study is available for free at the link I posted. Encourage you to peruse it.

Drusas ,

Being wrong is not the same as lying.

sp3tr4l ,

A person working min wage and sharing a studio is actually highly likely to engage in illegal dumping. Ive known many people in my life who've done so because theyre too broke to afford a visit to the dump, both in monetary and wasted time terms.

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.

Chef_Boyardee ,

It's organic recycling. It's better for the earth.

NeatNit ,

I think there may actually be some truth to this, but I don't know nearly enough to say so with any confidence

GluWu , (edited )

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JiOXLk9Xj1E

sp3tr4l ,

Throw it all into volcanoes?

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