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Hamburg city cleaning starts major campaign against junk bicycles!
The Hamburg city cleaning department is starting its annual campaign to remove scrap bikes in order to improve road safety.
Hamburg city cleaning starts major campaign against junk bicycles!
In Hamburg, city cleaning has tackled a recurring problem: junk bicycles that have long since seen their best days. Every year around 4,000 of these unused bikes leave the city streets. The recurring drive to remove junk bikes has begun, and the reasons for it are clear. Old and broken bicycles block valuable space in public areas, pose a nuisance to pedestrians and cyclists and can even endanger road safety. Sat1 Regional reports that police officers and district office employees mark the bikes that they consider unused or unfit for traffic.
How does the whole thing work? The affected bikes will be marked with a bright red sticker indicating that their owners will be asked to remove the bike within 14 days. Anyone who doesn't report can be prepared for a rude awakening: the city cleaning service has the right to break locks and dispose of bicycles. In critical cases, if a bike poses an acute danger to traffic, it can be scrapped within 24 hours. The city cleaning service has a good hand here, acting on behalf of the customer and using special tools to remove the bicycles. Hamburg city cleaning speaks of a clear regulation that ultimately contributes to the safety of everyone.
A win for everyone
The removed bicycles are either scrapped or given a new life in the “Stilbruch” used goods department store, where they are available for new owners. Over 1,000 repairable bikes find new friends in the Stilbruch branches every year - and at a really fair price. Bicycles that can be made functional again with little effort end up in the city cleaning bicycle workshop at the recycling center in Osdorf. Additional components are handed over to a scrap recycling company to be recycled there. The authority points this out how important it is that urban spaces remain tidy and do not become piles of scrap.
“We don’t want the public to be bothered by junk bikes,” explains Jens Kerstan, Senator for the Environment, Climate and Agriculture. Feedback from citizens is also very welcome. Scrap bikes can be easily reported via the SRH app, which contributes to active citizen participation in this campaign.
Where and when does it become active?
Recent measures have already resulted in numerous scrap bicycles being marked on the Reeperbahn. These marking campaigns are intended to spread throughout the city to draw attention to the problem. Ralf Neubauer, the Hamburg-Mitte district office manager, emphasizes the high pressure of use in public spaces, especially in the city center. Further actions are planned in the Eimsbüttel and Wandsbek area as well as in Altona in the future. If you want to know where the next eviction will take place, you can simply look around in the app or on the city cleaning website. A transparent and citizen-oriented solution!