Council Tackles Abandoned Trolleys

12.28.16pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 16th May 2005

Abandoned shopping trolleys will cost a leading supermarket several thousand pounds.

Over a ten month period almost 200 abandoned trolleys were reported to the Lib Dem Borough Council's StreetCare Service. Most were collected by the supermarkets within two days of being contacted by the Council. But some supermarkets failed to pick up the trolleys which were then collected and stored at the Council's Hedge End depot.

Despite being advised and given an option to collect or have them returned the companies involved failed to recover them and 40 trolleys remained by the end of the six week maximum storage period.

Now the trolleys, each valued at around £80, have been collected by a scrap metal company to be crushed and smelted for use as recycled steel. And the supermarkets are facing costs totalling £2,000 with Tesco's being responsible for the majority of the unclaimed trolleys.

Last year the Borough Council adopted powers under the Environmental Protection Act which allows them to charge for the recovery of abandoned trolleys. Since June 2004 supermarkets have been required to remove abandoned trolleys within two days of being notified of their location.

At the beginning of the new initiative the Borough's major stores, including Tesco, signed up to a partnership pledge in which they agreed to work with the Council to remove abandoned trolleys quickly and effectively.

However, some supermarkets have not been as helpful as they could have been. Eastleigh Cabinet Member for Transport and Streetscene Councillor David Airey explained "When the Council adopted the legislation and introduced the new protocol it was with the support of the Borough's major stores. The majority of our stores have acted responsibly and work with us to reduce the unsightly problem of abandoned trolleys. Unfortunately, however, the country's leading supermarket, Tesco, have so far proved to be the slowest when it comes to collecting their own trolleys. Most of the trolleys which we have sent for recycling belonged to Tesco and were abandoned in the Eastleigh and Bursledon areas close to their stores. Despite several reminders and phone calls they were not collected and Tesco will now be liable to costs in the region of £1,500".