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Bicycles and e-scooters were fished out of the Main in July. © Peter Mertz
There are numerous bicycles sleeping in the Main in the Frankfurt city area. The authorities disagree about who is responsible for disposal.
Frankfurt – The information varies, but there is some. Between 15,000 and 25,000 bicycles are fished out of the canals in Amsterdam every year. The city of Amsterdam is responsible and has a special boat for this. In Frankfurt, that is clear, the problem is less serious. But there are no numbers and there is no boat. And who is responsible is controversial.
“The Main is a federal waterway and therefore falls under the jurisdiction of the Waterways and Shipping Office,” says Lena Berneburg from the city’s parks department, which is responsible for the banks of the Main. The same advice comes, usually at the very first place, from other city authorities, wherever you ask.
The city of Frankfurt is responsible, contradicts Marisa Schneider, head of the shipping department at the Aschaffenburg Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA). She explains that her authority has to ensure that shipping runs smoothly. For this purpose, the shipping channel must be kept sufficiently deep. If bicycles are in the way, they will be taken out. But not otherwise.
Scrap in the Main near Frankfurt: Who is responsible for disposal?
It can be heard here and there that there have already been legal disputes between the city and the WSA. But no one wants to say more about it. The Darmstadt regional council (RP) knows that the disposal of things taken from the river is the responsibility of the city of Frankfurt. But that doesn’t mean that the city has to fish anything out of the river at all.
Then it’s more likely the regional council itself. Because at this level, responsibility for environmental hazards lies in flux. And these can come from the batteries of electric bikes if they rust. The regional council also admits this. However, the assessment is that “the risk of individual undamaged batteries in the Main is not considered to be significant in the short term.” So nothing is being done for the time being.
The city of Frankfurt, on the other hand, is taking action as part of the CleanFFM campaign, a joint project between the Clean Frankfurt department and the municipal waste disposal company FES. So-called clean-ups are carried out again and again. These are actions in which public areas are cleaned primarily by volunteers. According to Claudia Gabriel, head of the staff department, such actions also take place on the banks of the Main, and as far as this is justifiable from a security perspective, bicycles and other things are also taken out of the river.
Frankfurt: FES takes over the disposal on the banks of the Main
It is obvious that this can only be about the bank area. It can therefore only be a fraction of all bicycles lying in the river, and only a low double-digit number. The material is disposed of by the FES – bicycles end up in the scrap metal container. And above all, this is seen as a voluntary action by the city.
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Nothing more happens, at least not officially. But possibly outside of official supervision? Daniel Göz, chairman of the Frankfurt Fishermen’s and Boatmen’s Guild of 945, reports about a group of teenagers and young adults who, well-equipped with ropes and hooks, are always out and about on the banks of the Main and get bicycles, scooters and shopping carts out of the water. He doesn’t know who it is, and the city authorities don’t know anything about such a group either.
There it is made clear that such activities would be viewed rather critically. Simply fishing things out of the Main and then leaving them in public facilities would not be in the interests of the city at all, which would have to clear up the garbage at its own expense. Above all, attention is drawn to the dangers associated with this, including the still unrecovered World War II ammunition. And even the monument protection department doesn’t believe in such actions at all, as it cannot be completely ruled out that some historical relics could be damaged. (Manfred Becht)
#feels #responsible #garbage
