California: Bicycle Recycling Program proposed by assemblywoman

http://www.gazettes.com/recycle03172005.html
Bicycle Recycling Program
Proposed By Area Assemblywoman



By Steve Irsay
Staff Writer

First, it was bottles and cans. Then televisions and computer monitors.
Soon, it could be bicycles.

A $7 fee would be charged on every new bicycle sold to pay for a statewide
recycling program under a bill recently introduced by Assemblywoman Betty
Karnette (D-Long Beach).

Under the proposed redemption program, buyers would receive a $3 refund when
they turn their bikes in to certified reuse and recycling centers. The sale
of used bicycles would be exempt from the fee.

Karnette said her Bicycle Recycling and Disposal Program would reduce
landfill waste and, in the process, help get used bikes into the hand of
those otherwise unable to afford them and encourage an
environmentally-friendly form of transportation.

"We have to reduce trash any way we can," she said. "Also, this helps
low-income people realize the dream of owning a bike."

However, those in the bicycling and recycling communities questioned whether
bikes and their riders were worthwhile targets in the pollution fight.

According to Karnette, more than 250,000 bicycles are disposed of each year
statewide at a cost of about $3.50 per bicycle. Fewer than 3,000 of those
bicycles are recycled.

"If we are able to reuse or recycle even half of those, we would save about
600 cubic feet of landfill each year," she added.

But bicycles do not appear to be a major source of trash here in Long Beach,
according to Jim Kuhl, the city environmental services bureau manager.

"We don't find a lot of bicycles entering the trash," he said. "Generally, I
think they are sold at garage sales and swap meets. It's not a really big
issue for us."

The new-bike fee could be an issue for retailers, said Brian Cox, vice
president of operations of Jax Bicycle Center, a five-store chain with
stores in Long Beach and Orange County.

"From a retail perspective, this smacks of a use tax, which bothers me," he
said.

Cox noted that the average retail price of a bicycle at Jax is about $380,
so the $7 fee would not make much of a difference.

However, at mass retailers such as Wal-Mart, where bicycles routinely sell
for closer to $65, the additional fee would translate to a more substantial
10% markup, he added.

"If this bill hits the mass retailers' radar screen, I think this thing is
D.O.A.," he said.

Casey Butler, executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, a
group that lobbies on behalf of riders and manufacturers, said the cycling
community supports recycling but he questioned the added financial burden to
bicycle riders, who already practice one of the most environmentally
friendly forms of transportation.

"It would be looked at as a penalty," he said of the mandatory $7 fee. "It
seems sort of counter productive in that sense."

Butler added that when it comes to transportation, the focus of conservation
and recycling should remain on automobiles.

The state Integrated Waste Management Board already administers programs
that assess fees on the sale of both tires and motor oil to help pay for
their safe collection and disposal. And of course vehicles are not the only
targets of conservation fees.

For nearly 20 years, the state has had a version of the popular "bottle
bill" that require consumers to pay a refundable deposit on bottles and
cans to promote recycling.

Starting this January, electronics retailers were required to collect
between $6 and $10 for the sale of new televisions, computer monitors and
laptops to pay for the safe recycling of those devices.

Karnette said that targeting certain products - and, by extension, certain
consumers - is complicated but necessary in reducing pollution.

"I think our society wants to have less trash, and clean air," she said. "I
know our area - the Long beach area - really wants to."

North Long Beach resident Dave San Jose runs the city's 10-year-old Bikes
90800 program, which allows at-risk kids and juvenile offenders to refurbish
bicycles that they either keep or donate to those in need. He too questioned
the proposed bill.

"There are so many other issues that are more important," he said.


Sounds like something the "Governator" might suggest!

--
More of my mind dribblings: http://mind-dribble.blogspot.com/
And my homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/

In article ,
"Ken Marcet" wrote:


[Karnette] said. "Also, this helps low-income people realize
the dream of owning a bike."

non sequitor. illogical. norman coordinate.

..max

--
blink

=v= Sounds like a short-term gain, but that's it. Bicyclists
already subsidize other transportation to a staggering degree,
so adding yet more cost (even if it's only $7) is unfair.
_Jym_

On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 06:31:27 -0500, "Ken Marcet"
wrote:

http://www.gazettes.com/recycle03172005.html
Bicycle Recycling Program
Proposed By Area Assemblywoman



By Steve Irsay
Staff Writer

First, it was bottles and cans. Then televisions and computer monitors.
Soon, it could be bicycles.

....

So many of the bikes sold today are cheap Walmart specials that last
two or three years. I have two in the garage. Neither is actually
Walmart but both came from department stores. It would cost more to
fix them up than it would be to buy a new one. But they should, at
least, be recycled.

Plus, an item that was not mentioned, is the abandonment of bicycles
locked up to poles. I'm sort of guilty of that myself. I have one a
block from work, an old POS. It hasn't moved in a year. Really. I keep
meaning to take it home but never manage to. I would happily turn it
in for $4. It's been there a year and no one has stolen it. Right in
the middle of NYC. Can you imagine? Maybe I'll just unlock it...

"If we are able to reuse or recycle even half of those, we would
save about 600 cubic feet of landfill each year," she added.

So in ten years we could save the volume of a large living room.

--
Paul Turner

According to Karnette, more than 250,000 bicycles are disposed of each
year
statewide at a cost of about $3.50 per bicycle. Fewer than 3,000 of those
bicycles are recycled.

"If we are able to reuse or recycle even half of those, we would save
about
600 cubic feet of landfill each year," she added.

OK, let me get this straight. We're spending how much time & money on
hearings to push a bill that will require a bunch of paperwork and other
hassles in order to save a chunk of land that's LESS THAN 10 FEET
SQUARE???!!!

If that's not a mistake, this is an absurd waste of time & money. We should
be more concerned with reducing the amount of thrown-away packaging that's
part of our everyday purchases.

600 cubic feet? It's just got to be a misprint.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
"Ken Marcet" wrote in message
...
http://www.gazettes.com/recycle03172005.html
Bicycle Recycling Program
Proposed By Area Assemblywoman



By Steve Irsay
Staff Writer

First, it was bottles and cans. Then televisions and computer monitors.
Soon, it could be bicycles.

A $7 fee would be charged on every new bicycle sold to pay for a statewide
recycling program under a bill recently introduced by Assemblywoman Betty
Karnette (D-Long Beach).

Under the proposed redemption program, buyers would receive a $3 refund
when
they turn their bikes in to certified reuse and recycling centers. The
sale
of used bicycles would be exempt from the fee.

Karnette said her Bicycle Recycling and Disposal Program would reduce
landfill waste and, in the process, help get used bikes into the hand of
those otherwise unable to afford them and encourage an
environmentally-friendly form of transportation.

"We have to reduce trash any way we can," she said. "Also, this helps
low-income people realize the dream of owning a bike."

However, those in the bicycling and recycling communities questioned
whether
bikes and their riders were worthwhile targets in the pollution fight.

According to Karnette, more than 250,000 bicycles are disposed of each
year
statewide at a cost of about $3.50 per bicycle. Fewer than 3,000 of those
bicycles are recycled.

"If we are able to reuse or recycle even half of those, we would save
about
600 cubic feet of landfill each year," she added.

But bicycles do not appear to be a major source of trash here in Long
Beach,
according to Jim Kuhl, the city environmental services bureau manager.

"We don't find a lot of bicycles entering the trash," he said. "Generally,
I
think they are sold at garage sales and swap meets. It's not a really big
issue for us."

The new-bike fee could be an issue for retailers, said Brian Cox, vice
president of operations of Jax Bicycle Center, a five-store chain with
stores in Long Beach and Orange County.

"From a retail perspective, this smacks of a use tax, which bothers me,"
he
said.

Cox noted that the average retail price of a bicycle at Jax is about $380,
so the $7 fee would not make much of a difference.

However, at mass retailers such as Wal-Mart, where bicycles routinely sell
for closer to $65, the additional fee would translate to a more
substantial
10% markup, he added.

"If this bill hits the mass retailers' radar screen, I think this thing is
D.O.A.," he said.

Casey Butler, executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, a
group that lobbies on behalf of riders and manufacturers, said the cycling
community supports recycling but he questioned the added financial burden
to
bicycle riders, who already practice one of the most environmentally
friendly forms of transportation.

"It would be looked at as a penalty," he said of the mandatory $7 fee. "It
seems sort of counter productive in that sense."

Butler added that when it comes to transportation, the focus of
conservation
and recycling should remain on automobiles.

The state Integrated Waste Management Board already administers programs
that assess fees on the sale of both tires and motor oil to help pay for
their safe collection and disposal. And of course vehicles are not the
only
targets of conservation fees.

For nearly 20 years, the state has had a version of the popular "bottle
bill" that require consumers to pay a refundable deposit on bottles and
cans to promote recycling.

Starting this January, electronics retailers were required to collect
between $6 and $10 for the sale of new televisions, computer monitors and
laptops to pay for the safe recycling of those devices.

Karnette said that targeting certain products - and, by extension, certain
consumers - is complicated but necessary in reducing pollution.

"I think our society wants to have less trash, and clean air," she said.
"I
know our area - the Long beach area - really wants to."

North Long Beach resident Dave San Jose runs the city's 10-year-old Bikes
90800 program, which allows at-risk kids and juvenile offenders to
refurbish
bicycles that they either keep or donate to those in need. He too
questioned
the proposed bill.

"There are so many other issues that are more important," he said.


Sounds like something the "Governator" might suggest!

--
More of my mind dribblings: http://mind-dribble.blogspot.com/
And my homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:

OK, let me get this straight. We're spending how much time & money on
hearings to push a bill that will require a bunch of paperwork and
other hassles in order to save a chunk of land that's LESS THAN 10
FEET SQUARE???!!!

Just a coincidence, I'm sure, but in AM-B we once got Mike V@andem@n to
admit that his legendary (read: nonexistent) "human-free habitat" was 10'
square.

Good times...

Just another tax in the guise of environmentalism. As with the bottle
fee, this one also will not be redeemed by most people who discard
bicycles. Therefore, it is just another tax that is the creeping
gradualism that conservatists love to support becausze they can later
say "No new taxes" when education, public transit and other things
that they as true libetarians believe are there solely for the
shiftless underclass. Meanwhile the taxes we pay go to waging foreign
wars and American imperialism. We know what's good for them.

http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/column.php?id=763

Ken Marcet wrote:

[Snipped]

Ken,

Why do I get the feeling that you spend a lot of time searching the
Internet for cycling related articles?

--
Tom Sherman - Earth (Downstate Illinois, North of Forgottonia)

In article ,
"Mike Jacoubowsky" quoted and then wrote:

According to Karnette, more than 250,000 bicycles are disposed of each
year
statewide ...
"If we are able to reuse or recycle even half of those, we would save
about
600 cubic feet of landfill each year," she added.

OK, let me get this straight. We're spending how much time & money on
hearings to push a bill that will require a bunch of paperwork and other
hassles in order to save a chunk of land that's LESS THAN 10 FEET
SQUARE???!!!
....
600 cubic feet? It's just got to be a misprint.

One half of 250,000 bicycles would be 125,000. Six hundred cubic feet
comes to 1,036,800 cubic inches, which I think works out to a little
under 8-1/3 cubic inches per bicycle, and that indeed seems excessively
compact even counting in those nifty inflatable frames I've been reading
about here.

Perhaps a pair of blue-footed birds were flying by the reporter's window
during the writing of the piece and he (or she) was distracted and lost
track of the correct number of zeroes?

John