Homeless Recycling Collectors Screwed by California Law
A misguided new California law prevents people from selling recycling if they do not have a valid state ID card.
On the rare sunny San Francisco day, people don’t flock to the beach as much as you’d expect-they head to the inland parks since often the beach is still cold. Dolores Park, one of the most popular sunny day hang-outs, will be jam packed on these days, leading to overflowing trashcans and recycling bins.
Luckily, there seem to always be a loyal handful of people wandering through the park collecting beer cans and water bottles from the partiers and picnickers. What’s their motivation for their almost surreal helpfulness? Well, a trade-in value of about 5-cents for each bottle or can.
But now the state is preventing many of these people from making their meager living.
Proponents of the law say that drug addicts use the rebate credit to feed their addictions, which very well may be the case. But really, is this the best way to help those people fight their addictions? Seems like a pretty backwards, mean-spirited idea to me, not to mention that many people who are collecting cans are simply trying to feed themselves. The law does nothing but make it harder for people to actually find a way out of homelessness.
And what about the environmental impact of the law? These people walk through the streets and pick recyclable items out of the public trash cans, saving them from landfills. People doing this should be encouraged, not made to jump through hoops in order to cash out their cans.
Not only will they now need to show a valid state ID card, but to exchange aluminum cans and other metallic cans, they will have their photograph and thumb-print taken, and then money will be withheld for 3 days. This action is due to metal theft from construction sites or vehicle parts, which is a legitimate problem-but why not exempt those who are merely cashing in aluminum cans?
Some San Francisco residents complain that scavengers pick through their recycling bins when they are out for collection, but again, I don’t understand what the problem is here. San Francisco, along with many other Californian cities, pays to have their recycling sorted. The homeless men and women who collect from the bins are doing the same service and probably lessening the sorting costs for the city in the process.
Photo Credit: Essygie on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
300 days of sunshine a year is rare? ok.
Okay, let’s revise that to “rare hot San Francisco day”
You know the days I am talking about, right? When Dolores Park is so crowded you can hardly navigate around the blankets on the grass?
wow,its true-u really are a bunch of whiney self centered f@*kers arent u?yeah the law stinks.
poor Californians…must suck to be you…
If you’ve spent any time at all in SF you would know that sunshine most certainly does not equal warm weather.
Also, this law is fucked, although I suspect, like most laws which attempt to stifle a certain activity, that this will merely result in a black market of recycling traders, paying the homeless less than what their metal is worth then bringing it to the redemption centers themselves and making a handy profit off the hard work of unfortunate vagrants.
Although… really… think about it.
They’re passing these laws so the homeless people don’t get drugs?
Even if that is what they’re doing, is a homeless person getting drugs really so bad? Their life is in the gutter, they’ve lost everything, if they want something to make themselves feel a little better, if even for a little bit, shouldn’t they be allowed to ease their own suffering?
DAMN YOU SCHWRZENEGGAR!!!
California is a gestapo state run by the son of a gestapo officer. What do you expect, compassion? decency? Not from those materialists.
Well sure, this law is bad for homeless people, but what amount others? I personally wouldn’t bother to go through getting all those deposits back if I had to get a photo and a thumbprint. Not to mention I wouldn’t get my couple of bucks until 3 days later. They can keep their change for all I care.
that’s NY btw…