Shopping trollies

Proposed Charges for Dumped 

Shopping Trolleys

            

Wherever there is a supermarket you will find abandoned shopping trollies in the immediate locality. 

In response to local residents who were fed up with seeing abandoned trollies in their streets we asked Reading Borough Council to persuade Tesco to put coin locks on their Shopping Trollies, this they did and things have improved, however, we still see abandoned trollies. 

Across the town Reading people still see this as an issue that needs to be addressed. I am pleased to tell you that Reading Borough Council is going to get tough on supermarkets. Reading's Labour led council have issued the following press release.

21/11/2011

Reading Borough Council Press Release

Reading Borough Council is proposing to charge supermarkets and convenience stores for abandoned shopping trolleys that are dumped around the town.

Keeping the town clean and tidy and respecting the environment were key issues raised by residents during the Council's 'We Need To Talk' consultation initiative. Discarded shopping trolleys, particularly when they are abandoned on pavements, parkland, beauty spots or in waterways, are the cause of a large number of complaints by local residents each year.

The Council already contacts the owners of abandoned trolleys, requesting them to retrieve their property. If they fail to do so, Council staff remove the trolleys. This has significant cost implications, both in terms of staff hours and disposal fees. So in future, the Council is proposing to charge supermarkets and convenience stores for recovering, storing, returning of disposing of the items.

Proposed charges would be as follows:

 Removal: £15 per trolley

 Storage: £7.50 per week or part week

 Return the trolley to the business: £15 per trolley

 Disposal: £50 per trolley

A report including the proposals will be going to a meeting of Reading Borough Council's Cabinet on November 28 for approval to begin a consultation process with interested parties. If approved businesses affected will be invited to have their say on the proposals before a final decision is made.

Paul Gittings, Reading's Lead Councillor for Environment and Climate Change, said: 'Unsightly dumped shopping trolleys are a blight on local areas and it is only fair that businesses who do not put in place appropriate measures to collect them have to pay for their retrieval.'

Shopping trolleys dumped on pavements can be an obstruction for pedestrians as well as in some cases causing damage to parked cars. When dumped in rivers they can also damage boats and be harmful to wildlife.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 allows local councils to remove abandoned shopping trolleys from their land and recover subsequent costs. After removal a notice must then be served on the owner of the trolley within 14 days. If the owner claims the trolley it must be returned but only after the Council's charges have been paid. If the trolley is not claimed by the business, the Council may dispose of the trolley after a period of six weeks and may charge the owner for the subsequent costs of disposal.