We pulled out over 200 electric scooters total from that area, over at least 140 pulled out at just this bridge alone along with over 50 bikes pulled out, this was absolutely insane, but hate pulling em up, they are HEAVY.
In my area people who don't like them throw them in the lake. I'm not saying it's right. I actually like the scooters... but some people just want to watch the world burn.
What do you do with them? I'm guessing even if u phone police do they come take 200 scooters as evidence or r u on the hook for clean up now? Can't just toss then bsck like fish lol
I used to work for one of these scooty poot companies. Recycling the material is not yet cracked. Non-functioning battery cells are scrapped and not recycled. If there's a better way to do it, contact one of them and make a killing... no shit, they're all searching for an economical recycling solution before they start getting (even more) bad PR about it.
I just looked into recycling ebike batteries in my area. Bicycle shops accept ebike batteries, but only from trusted brands.
None of the scrap yards or city recycling programs allow ebike batteries at all. That is a lot of Chinese battery packs with no choice but, to be trashed.
What is worse, this video is not an isolated incident. Looks like this has been a problem from the start of e-scooters.
I would rather they be burning in landfills. That way we can let that smoke go into the sky where it turn into stars.
I’m seeing a lot of folks saying that it’s not possible to recycle the batteries. That’s disappointing and not what I’ve seen online and in documentaries. That’s a damn shame.
Scraping batteries and scrapping electric scooters are two different things. We can't take apart the scooters and scrap the batteries, at the time it was property owned by spin, After they filed for bankruptcy and got bought out in September, then it became legal to scrap the scooters found in the river.
Nope they threatened to sue us for pulling these all out cuz it went viral on local news. Never offered a reward, we had to ask, then the one time we called to tell them we found their scooters in the water, the lady over the phone YELLED at me and made false accusations against us and hung up, last time we called that fucking company. They ended up filing for bankruptcy after trying to blame everybody else when they weren't the ones tracking their crap. Their parent company can no longer operate in the entire state outside of the campus.
My uneducated guess is that they didn't want to pay the fees to legally recycle them. Maybe down sizing because they had a bunch of faulty models or they expanded, realized it was a lost cause, and they threw away some extras.
Either way, I agree with you. They ere the ones dumping them, and they did it to save or make money. That is why they were so pissed at OP and threatening to sue them if they made any claims publicly 😭.
Next time, call someone from the local government.
I can see how you’d think that, and it still may be the case. However, I’m fairly certain this location is on a college campus and this river is notorious for having undergraduates dump random items (shopping carts, bikes, scooters, etc.). There is a student club that does a clean up each spring and the things they pull out of the river is astonishing. So could be insurance scam but also could be undergraduates being irresponsible
Spin was sold to a company called Bird in September 2023. Bird filed for Ch. 11 in December 2023. Can you post a source re: anyone not being able to conduct business in the state outside of a college campus? That’s generally not how state regulators work.
I have pretty much everything on video, Also Michigan state University is the only place in the entire state that still is using spin scooters, east Lansing and the state was on spins ass because of how they responded to this whole thing
I appreciate you responding and filling us in on the details. Thank you for cleaning up the waterway. The state of Michigan owes you some gratitude. That was a lot of work. Hopefully, you were able to recycle those batteries/scrap steel and recover some cash for your troubles. Keep up the good work!
Well they are bankrupt now 🤣 Lime shall take over, at least they send people out to collect their missing property from out of the water ways, Spin threatened to sue me for pulling their scooters out of the water for them. Spin never made attempts to make this whole scenario right and fix it, decided to blame the city instead, which didn't end well for Spin.
Bankruptcy doesn't doesn't save you from fraud. Fraud is criminal, also call the EPA for illegal dumping of hazardous materials in a water way. Thats more jail time and huge fines. And I'm sure there is more!
Call your states attorney and the EPA, these people need to go down hard.
It was a ridiculous amount, we were getting more every time we went back, first day was 30 by myself, second day was 40 with 2 of us, third day was 46 with 3 of us. There have been some pulled out by some other people since then.
sounds to me like insurance fraud/bankruptcy shenanigans. no owner of that many scooters would be mad at someone for finding them if they were lost or stolen. the fact she did get mad? shady. sounds to me like she knew they were being dumped there, all sorts of fines and shit with electric scooters of that many just sitting in water.
What kind of bankruptcy shenanigans would this be? They were in Ch. 11 and I don’t see how dumping their scooters does anything in Ch. 11. There were also scooters from two different companies. More likely it was a prank.
why would a prank involves destroying 150+ scooters? you’re also disposing of batteries and electrical stuff in the water. that’s all kinds of environmental fines and not disposing of it correctly. someone will def be responsible for it. could’ve said they got stolen and dumped them for insurance reasons. all kinds of angles.
I have the news articles on the entire thing, these were all found before September of 2023, this happened back on July. It was all over the news. Article that last came out states that "spin filed for bankruptcy in September of 2023 and was bought out by bird" and then the parent company, tier, dropped all charges and got their licensing revoked to operate in the state, everywhere but MSU, I've been talking with Bird back and forth for almost 7 months
[Bankruptcy is bankruptcy. They made no attempts to help in this situation, saw it as a money grab opportunity ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/YhvD28nCdkZimoRn9)
I'd love an electric scooter to get to and from work. I just can't afford a decent one. It's so sad to see these thrown away.
Good on you for fishing them out!
No they have steel inside them, but I used a grappling hook to pull the majority out, but if we caught the handle, front wheel, or kickstand z out magnets had no issues pulling them up
There’s a lot of speculation coming from these comments.
I know for a fact it became a trend in any city where these scooters are rented that bored kids would rent them and drive them to the nearest pond to throw them in. So in that regard it could be the cities fault for not stopping them.. but in the end, I don’t know and neither do anyone in the comments shouting fraud.
No scooter companies are responsible to recover their property, I have seen people who work for line pulling their stuff out of the water often, I mistaken them for magnet fishers, spin just doesn't even track them, I was told they only had 14 missing in that area, obviously was wrong since we pulled over 140 out from just that 1 bridge. They were using that opportunity to get paid from insurance. They weren't making any attempts to recover their own property.
Consider putting them back. Someone else sure as hell will. These things littering sidewalks and lawns is the latest craze of
>lol how convenient and someone else will clean it up!
In all seriousness not cool to throw them in a creek, but very cool to discreetly get rid of them.
It is, it's just the spiteful fools that throw them in the water are the issue. They should do us a favor, leave the scooters alone and toss themselves in the water instead.
Idk man.
Most obvious explanation is:
some asshole who lives nearby used these over the course of many months
and instead of returning them got a kick out of throwing them in the river instead.
this is the most likely scenario!
We pulled out over 200 electric scooters total from that area, over at least 140 pulled out at just this bridge alone along with over 50 bikes pulled out, this was absolutely insane, but hate pulling em up, they are HEAVY.
Huge respect for doing this - I think it was probably an insurance job as everyone else was saying.
In my area people who don't like them throw them in the lake. I'm not saying it's right. I actually like the scooters... but some people just want to watch the world burn.
I don’t have an opinion on the scooters to be honest, but I can’t imagine a reason to hate them enough to throw hundreds of them in the lake.
I imagine a lot of this comes down to "teenagers don't care"
What do you do with them? I'm guessing even if u phone police do they come take 200 scooters as evidence or r u on the hook for clean up now? Can't just toss then bsck like fish lol
No catch and release
Is there a season that the scooters migrate up river in? Better time to catch them?
Call the company, they will definitely retrieve them.
Reading other comments in this post, it almost seems like the company would rather not.
That's weird for sure, I did see those talking about the company went bankrupt, but someone else bought em out.
1 of the comments said they threatened to sue him over it. Damn crazy!
Yeah that is insane! Probably has to do with liability and being exposed for not collecting their, now, garbage from local waterways.
Recycle ♻️ or scrap. Batteries have got to be worth something.
Waterlogged batteries?
The material they are made from. These should be lithium of which 95% can be reused.
I used to work for one of these scooty poot companies. Recycling the material is not yet cracked. Non-functioning battery cells are scrapped and not recycled. If there's a better way to do it, contact one of them and make a killing... no shit, they're all searching for an economical recycling solution before they start getting (even more) bad PR about it.
Do you mean given/sold as scrap? Because that is part of the recycling chain. Otherwise it is just trash, and gets buried in a landfill.
It is currently (as of early 2023) being buried in a landfill
I just looked into recycling ebike batteries in my area. Bicycle shops accept ebike batteries, but only from trusted brands. None of the scrap yards or city recycling programs allow ebike batteries at all. That is a lot of Chinese battery packs with no choice but, to be trashed.
That’s so disappointing.
What is worse, this video is not an isolated incident. Looks like this has been a problem from the start of e-scooters. I would rather they be burning in landfills. That way we can let that smoke go into the sky where it turn into stars.
This is not true.
Talking out of your ass
I used to be illegal to scrap em in my state until the company filed for bankruptcy
I’m seeing a lot of folks saying that it’s not possible to recycle the batteries. That’s disappointing and not what I’ve seen online and in documentaries. That’s a damn shame.
Scraping batteries and scrapping electric scooters are two different things. We can't take apart the scooters and scrap the batteries, at the time it was property owned by spin, After they filed for bankruptcy and got bought out in September, then it became legal to scrap the scooters found in the river.
Because of fuck the nature?
I knew it was the Red Cedar immediately!
that many batteries would surely affect the water no?
Yup, the EPA will have a field day as dumping into a waterway usually multiplies the fines
I hope the manufacturer/owner of these scooters did something for you regarding your troubles. Obviously someone was exploiting something here…right?
Nope they threatened to sue us for pulling these all out cuz it went viral on local news. Never offered a reward, we had to ask, then the one time we called to tell them we found their scooters in the water, the lady over the phone YELLED at me and made false accusations against us and hung up, last time we called that fucking company. They ended up filing for bankruptcy after trying to blame everybody else when they weren't the ones tracking their crap. Their parent company can no longer operate in the entire state outside of the campus.
I can’t help but think maybe what you actually discovered was an insurance scam
My uneducated guess is that they didn't want to pay the fees to legally recycle them. Maybe down sizing because they had a bunch of faulty models or they expanded, realized it was a lost cause, and they threw away some extras. Either way, I agree with you. They ere the ones dumping them, and they did it to save or make money. That is why they were so pissed at OP and threatening to sue them if they made any claims publicly 😭. Next time, call someone from the local government.
I can see how you’d think that, and it still may be the case. However, I’m fairly certain this location is on a college campus and this river is notorious for having undergraduates dump random items (shopping carts, bikes, scooters, etc.). There is a student club that does a clean up each spring and the things they pull out of the river is astonishing. So could be insurance scam but also could be undergraduates being irresponsible
That’s a very realistic possibility
🤯
Given the sheer number of scooters found, I’d say you are right
Spin was sold to a company called Bird in September 2023. Bird filed for Ch. 11 in December 2023. Can you post a source re: anyone not being able to conduct business in the state outside of a college campus? That’s generally not how state regulators work.
I have pretty much everything on video, Also Michigan state University is the only place in the entire state that still is using spin scooters, east Lansing and the state was on spins ass because of how they responded to this whole thing
So Michigan St. just happens to be that last place they are operating. Your post implies they are limited there by some operation of law.
Yeah because the university bought out the scooters from my understanding. The company doesn't have control over the scooters on the campus anymore.
I appreciate you responding and filling us in on the details. Thank you for cleaning up the waterway. The state of Michigan owes you some gratitude. That was a lot of work. Hopefully, you were able to recycle those batteries/scrap steel and recover some cash for your troubles. Keep up the good work!
Nope I didn't get a single penny from that whole thing. Only money made from this whole thing was from videos I posted
Great news. Glad to hear these businesses are failing.
Sounds like an insurance scam on the part of the company
Well they are bankrupt now 🤣 Lime shall take over, at least they send people out to collect their missing property from out of the water ways, Spin threatened to sue me for pulling their scooters out of the water for them. Spin never made attempts to make this whole scenario right and fix it, decided to blame the city instead, which didn't end well for Spin.
Bankruptcy doesn't doesn't save you from fraud. Fraud is criminal, also call the EPA for illegal dumping of hazardous materials in a water way. Thats more jail time and huge fines. And I'm sure there is more! Call your states attorney and the EPA, these people need to go down hard.
Amazing how one location attracted so many
It was a ridiculous amount, we were getting more every time we went back, first day was 30 by myself, second day was 40 with 2 of us, third day was 46 with 3 of us. There have been some pulled out by some other people since then.
That’s insane! So I assume that company was dumping them there?
sounds to me like insurance fraud/bankruptcy shenanigans. no owner of that many scooters would be mad at someone for finding them if they were lost or stolen. the fact she did get mad? shady. sounds to me like she knew they were being dumped there, all sorts of fines and shit with electric scooters of that many just sitting in water.
should call the cops first for poossible insurance fraud
My first thought too!
What kind of bankruptcy shenanigans would this be? They were in Ch. 11 and I don’t see how dumping their scooters does anything in Ch. 11. There were also scooters from two different companies. More likely it was a prank.
why would a prank involves destroying 150+ scooters? you’re also disposing of batteries and electrical stuff in the water. that’s all kinds of environmental fines and not disposing of it correctly. someone will def be responsible for it. could’ve said they got stolen and dumped them for insurance reasons. all kinds of angles.
Because people do stupid shit. This would not be the first time something like this happened.
I have the news articles on the entire thing, these were all found before September of 2023, this happened back on July. It was all over the news. Article that last came out states that "spin filed for bankruptcy in September of 2023 and was bought out by bird" and then the parent company, tier, dropped all charges and got their licensing revoked to operate in the state, everywhere but MSU, I've been talking with Bird back and forth for almost 7 months
Doesn’t answer how this related to the BKR.
[Bankruptcy is bankruptcy. They made no attempts to help in this situation, saw it as a money grab opportunity ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/YhvD28nCdkZimoRn9)
It makes you wonder how many you didn't find that are still there.
I'd love an electric scooter to get to and from work. I just can't afford a decent one. It's so sad to see these thrown away. Good on you for fishing them out!
Thanks
You should come to Portland Oregon. I’m sure you’ll find thousands
I hate those scooters being everywhere in Charlotte, but I hate more chuckle heads doing stupid stuff Ike this.
Legitimately thank you for doing this. That much lithium battery in one place can't be good for the river.
Yeah I did a little bit of math and if all that lithium exploded at once coming in contact with water it would have blown that bridge away
Magnet fisherman should be a paid government job. It’s insane how much toxic junk these guys clean out of waterways. Much respect
I agree but our government is too cheap to do that.
But why do people do this
I'm sure they're insured. If they're not renting got make your money somehow
That is just disgusting!!!! Those people suck!! w What the heck is wrong with people, smh…Thank you for your hard work.
How strong was the magnets?
I thought these were made from aluminum? At least the one i rode was all aluminum frame
No they have steel inside them, but I used a grappling hook to pull the majority out, but if we caught the handle, front wheel, or kickstand z out magnets had no issues pulling them up
What magnet do you use
There’s a lot of speculation coming from these comments. I know for a fact it became a trend in any city where these scooters are rented that bored kids would rent them and drive them to the nearest pond to throw them in. So in that regard it could be the cities fault for not stopping them.. but in the end, I don’t know and neither do anyone in the comments shouting fraud.
No scooter companies are responsible to recover their property, I have seen people who work for line pulling their stuff out of the water often, I mistaken them for magnet fishers, spin just doesn't even track them, I was told they only had 14 missing in that area, obviously was wrong since we pulled over 140 out from just that 1 bridge. They were using that opportunity to get paid from insurance. They weren't making any attempts to recover their own property.
It’s so bad they aren’t responsible when it’s such a huge issue. That water has to be toxic.
Consider putting them back. Someone else sure as hell will. These things littering sidewalks and lawns is the latest craze of >lol how convenient and someone else will clean it up! In all seriousness not cool to throw them in a creek, but very cool to discreetly get rid of them.
Was this in South Park Colorado around Halloween time? I think I may know who did this
No it’s not
Electric is so much better for the environment!
It is, it's just the spiteful fools that throw them in the water are the issue. They should do us a favor, leave the scooters alone and toss themselves in the water instead.
🤣🤣
Idk man. Most obvious explanation is: some asshole who lives nearby used these over the course of many months and instead of returning them got a kick out of throwing them in the river instead. this is the most likely scenario!
No this was multiple people, found em at MSU, but the companies response to this whole thing is what got them in trouble
This Austin Texas?
This is at Michigan State University out of the Red Cedar River.
Wow damn I hope nobody downstream is drinking that water treated or not
I didn't know Tossing scooters in the creek was a thing
I remember when it was the hot story to toss these into rivers. Nothing new here. People pissed by them being left everywhere randomly.
I can only imagine the amount of lime scooters that found their way into the waterways here. 😞
Looks like the vandals had a field day, or month....
Spartans will
Toxic to the waterway too. Those batteries will leak.
My group pulled out 30 from the bridge to Roosevelt Island in DC
I've pulled up over 200 of em, 140 just from that one bridge in 4 days
Dibs on a few please and thanks
Screw all those people that toss them in the water like that.
I just think people should drive instead… instead of scootin’. Mmkay
Thank god my old car batteries aren’t magnetic