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.
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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.
Wow. That’s a pretty stupid law. Looks like someone has pulled a McCain there….Just didn’t think this one through, huh?
Why must people be so rude on the internet? (I’m talking to you, ian and bla.)
I agree, this law doesn’t make sense. My impression, upon reading your post, Alex, was not that you are whining about this legislation. Rather, you were questioning the decision-makers, or the Deciders, as it were, because the time they spend on seemingly pointless projects such as the one described are floated through on our tax dollars. If we’re paying for it, we have every right to question it. Thanks for your commentary.
Nils, I agree with you, too. Vagrants get the shaft fo sho.
Yeah, it’s a pretty lame thing to do. I always try to keep my glass separated from the rest of my recycling so that those who dig through my trash every Sunday night won’t have such a hard time finding it. Every point you’ve made I can get completely behind.
Honestly, this is pathetic. Leave people alone. The author makes good points, especially the last one about it not mattering if the homeless or underemployed dig through recycling (neatly). Lawmakers should get a clue.
Man oh man oh man, you know what junkies do when they don’t have a legal means of getting money to feed their habits? At least this way you’re looking at less “real” crime impacting on clean society, some people think with their ass.
I thought California was progressive….
I did read that the law only kicked in after 50 dollars. If this is true, for those collecting cans and bottles, that would be a relatively manageable. They’d still be paid in cash for bags and cartfulls with no id required.
I do hope that in the meantime, while this is dealt with and hopefully improved for these people, that the collection stations are understanding of these peoples’ situations.
Sure, but the reality of bum bottle-collecting is that it raises the cost of garbage collection (when bums are being paid for pulling cans, usually, let’s be honest, usually, from recycling bins that would be collected And Recycled anyway), which then increases the cost of utilities paid by residents. I live in the bay area, and am woken up at least a couple times a week early morning by some woman with a rickety shopping cart rummaging through bottles next to my building. All that said, Can-Poachers do work for their five cent deposits (albeit needless work which city workers are paid to do). It’s gross, it takes a lot of time, there’s not a whole lot to show for it, and they’re not freaking asking me for my money on the sidewalk. And I appreciate that.
And another thing:
There’s no way the can collectors (at least the ones I’ve seen) are junkies. I’m sorry, but the only ones I’ve ever seen are 70 year-old osteoperosis-riddled asian women, sometimes pushing their grandkids in strollers in front of the cart (yay early instilled work ethic!). The junkies and drunks are too strung out to do anything requiring manual labor (thus the whole “no job” thing)… they’re the panhandlers.
A misguided new California law prevents people from selling recycling if they do not have a valid state ID card
I live in West Oakland. Let me tell you why this is a good law.
In California’s poor urban neighborhoods, metals are routinely stolen from vacant homes, jobsites, off of trucks, and even from occupied homes. Scrappers sell their metals to recycling companies who don’t care where it came from. These companies willingly purchase stolen goods.
What’s worse is that a great many of these scrappers are using their haul to purchase heroin, which is down to below $20 per dose.
Furthermore, most California cities have adequate food programs for the homeless, along with supplying other basic needs.
Essentially, what this law does is make it harder to steal metal and sell it for drug money.
Don’t tell me I’m being callous. I live in a neighborhood where this problem happens many times a day. The law is necessary.