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.
- » See also: DE bottle refund law: Mend it, don’t end it, say advocates
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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.
If this is a story about Cali law, why is the photo of E. 43rd St. in New York?
You might want to do just the tiniest bit of research before reporting stuff like this. As another poster already stated, this law isn’t designed to target homeless people who earn money from recycling, but rather people who are stealing metals from vacant or occupied buildings, construction sites, schools and churches, and even live power plants!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/20/copper.theft/?iref=mpstoryview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pJa0540OC0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_theft
http://wjz.com/local/copper.theft.Sean.2.428561.html
California IDs cost $22 but you can go to any social service agency and it get for a reduced cost.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#idcard_reducedfee
And this law only kicks into effect at $50.00 or more, which means that a homeless person would have to show up with 1,000 bottles or more for this law to effect them.
Another fine example of “one step forward, two steps back”! I can see the need for the new laws when it comes to certain metals, namely copper, especially when the refund over $50. BUT - in regard to aluminum cans, and all items where the consumer is forced to pay a CRV deposit, imposing a 3 day wait period is a downright crime! What a rediculous OVER DONE law! Why do lawmakers and politicians chronically overthink and over regulate so many things?? They ought to be ashamed of themselves!
Many good points risen against this idiotic law. Here are my few:
1. The homeless (more than nough said)
2. ID Theft, I went recyle cans and bottles i felt they had not reason to get my Driver’s license #, Name and Address. 3 key pieces of info for ID theft. THe little shack where they store this personal information doesn’t look to secure.
3. What about youths (under 18 with no license or ID), How do you encourage them to make a little cash and do a little work so as to go themselves for the pride of receiving cash for what they worked for? “Parents” have to escort them now? Not exactly a way to teach youths a little self reliance.
4. Making a process harder only encourages crimal activity to be more creative and find other methods to do malicous things. How about just taking all the stolen stuff to another state where this BS doesn’t exist. Now you increase uncessary traffic on the roads. Making it harder and making the rest of us “fingerprint” to turn in some cans and bottles is rediculous.
5. Where is the petition to sign to get this repealed?
The $50 limit is definitely a good way to help prevent this from affecting homeless persons. However it is quite likely that a homeless person will come in with more than $50 of cans and so might be subject to the law. The best solution to this would be to simply exempt cans/bottles entirely from the law.
I do understand how the stealing of metal from work sites could harmful, and I’m sure the laws were enacted in good faith.
There are already many laws on the books that attack homeless people (it is illegal to feed them in many major cities). Therefore it is not unreasonable to think that there might have been a reason behind not exempting cans/bottles.
I don’t know the exact statistics and /or percentages ,but I do know a lot of those homeless people have mental problems , such as scizophrenia (Don’t have a clue if that is spelled correctly) , an illness that is characterized by fear and mistrust of others which prevents them from holding a normal job and living a normal life. I guarantee you they will not subject themselves to being photographed and finger printed, neither would I! One of the first things that the police do when they arrest you (after the obligatory beating), is what???? Photograph you and fingerprint you ! So why should any citizen , who is not breaking the law, be subjected to this! No reason—-except one…. This country is slowly but surely turning into one where we have no freedoms , we are being dictated to , more and more everyday. Example: “The Real ID” legislation passed without even being read by most voting on it , it was tagged onto funding for the war. We don’t lose our freedom all at once, we would cry out against that, but instead it just trickles away a little at a time and no one seems to notice. Today it’s the homeless guy, tomorrow it may be you!