Man Who Throws Fridge Off a Cliff and Mocks Recycling Is Fined and Forced to Haul It Back Up

A man who appears on a video throwing a refrigerator down a cliff in Almeria, Spain while satirizing recycling has been identified and then fined $74,277 (45,000 euros). He was also made to drag the fridge back up manually to dispose of it correctly.

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Published: 8/6/2019, 11:29:40 AM EDT

Man Who Throws Fridge Off a Cliff and Mocks Recycling Is Fined and Forced to Haul It Back Up — (Bill Oxford on Unsplash)

A man who appears in a video throwing a refrigerator down a cliff in Almeria, Spain, while satirizing recycling has been identified and then fined $74,277 (45,000 euros). He was also made to drag the fridge back up to dispose of it correctly, reported CNN.

The man reportedly worked for a domestic appliances distribution company.

The video went viral and it caused anger in many people who harshly criticized the person who threw it and the one who was recording.

AUGC Guardia Civil shared the videos on Twitter, where the license plate of the truck appears.

The man on the video can be seen nodding as a confirmation that the other man is recording, then they can be heard saying, "recycling, let's go recycle it! it's (racing a) rally, how many flips can it do?"

CNN reported that the Guardia Civil is also investigating the company he was working for, and that about 50 washing machines were unearthed in the courtyard of a warehouse in their facilities.

Another video posted by AUGC Guardia Civil on Twitter shows how a washing machine was thrown off a cliff and that: "The investigation remains open to clarify all these facts."

Beaches Across America Showed Unsafe Levels of Pollution Last Year

Before you head to the beach this summer, you might want to double-check the water conditions.

Last year, nearly 60 percent of 4,523 beaches tested across the United States demonstrated unsafe water pollution levels on at least one day, according to a report released on July 23 by the nonprofits Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group.

These 2,627 beaches had bacteria levels that exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Beach Action Value" threshold, which it recommends states use to provide an early alert to beachgoers who may be particularly sensitive to contaminants.

On the higher end of the scale in the new report, Inner Cabrillo Beach in Los Angeles County had 85 potentially unsafe days out of 175 days sampled. By contrast, Bethany Beach in Delaware's Sussex County tested potentially unsafe on one of 33 sampled days.

The report compiled data from sampling conducted by local, state and federal agencies submitted to the National Water Quality Monitoring Council's Water Quality Portal.

It warned that sewage and fecal contamination of swimming areas pose a public health threat. Humans who come into contact with it can develop gastrointestinal illness, respiratory disease, infections, and skin rashes, the report said.

A dead lobster lies on an oil-covered beach after an oil spill near Refugio State Beach in north of Goleta, California, on May 20, 2015. (David McNew/Getty Images) — A dead lobster lies on an oil-covered beach after an oil spill near Refugio State Beach in north of Goleta, California, on May 20, 2015. David McNew/Getty Images

Sources of pollution at beaches include urban runoff, sewage overflow and failing septic systems, and concentrated livestock manure, according to the report.

The number of reported recreational water illnesses has steadily increased over the past few decades, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. About 90 million illnesses occur from water recreation events annually, according to a 2018 study published in the journal Environmental Health. Wire Service Content contributed to this article