That doesn’t make sense though, it’s much easier for me to throw away a bike in a large public trash can than find my nearest water body and go through the trouble of making sure it will sink.
It's a bit like the drunk, wall and gutter, they will bounce off the wall everytime they hit it, but once they are in the gutter they are stuck there.
A commercial dumpster would hold it, but most places around here keep those locked up (either by locking the cover or keeping them behind a locked gate). Probably because they got tired of people dumping personal trash (like bicycles) in them.
I've actually purchased a bike from a shop that made bikes from parts. It was a horror, but it shows that there is a life cycle that doesn't end in a river :)
the river doesn't ask questions. doesn't judge you. doesn't rear it's ugly head of spatial conformity when your bike doesn't fit.
it merely politely swallows whatever you put into it, wherever you are, leaving you free to go about your day
vs the municipal trash can, where you'll be fined if it doesn't fit, and have to lug it in
way more fun to toss and dump on one last wild ride of your bike
bikes don't float hth
This was something that happened more than five days ago, so nothing came up when I did a Google search.
I've lived places where the city didn't want to, or was legally unable, to increase taxes to fund enhanced trash collection.
I've lived in places where the city spends tons of money on trash collection, and everyone got new wheelie bins every year, and trash pick-up three days a week.
When I lived in the desert, trash collection was frequent, and cheap as chips because the city didn't want to give people any reason to dump their trash in the desert.
River, you are such a sink.
Bikes at your large public trash can be easily recycled or discarded at municipal waste facility.
Bikes lost to rivers lakes and oceans accumulate into graveyards.
Thus the “why so many”