Bolton Council secures new powers to tackle abandoned trolleys

Shopping trolleys are sometimes taken from retail outlets and abandoned in public spaces where they become an eyesore, a hazard and attract further flytipping.

Between February and March this year, Bolton Council ran a public consultation on how it should tackle the issue.

More than half of the respondents agreed that Bolton Council should adopt national legislation.

This means that, Under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, shopping trolleys can be removed and stored, and that the council can charge the retailers for doing this.

A storage cost of £5 per day per trolley will apply to retailers, and a charge of £50 for the initial collection by the council will also be payable. 

Retailers can request the return of each trolley collected by the council for which a charge of £100 per trolley will apply. This shall be in addition to the daily storage.

Retailers will have six weeks to collect their trolleys before they are disposed of, at the retailers’ expense.

Many retail outlets are already signed up to a voluntary collection scheme where trolleys will be collected by specialised companies such as Trolleywise.

The public are initially encouraged to contact these services or the relevant supermarket directly if they see an abandoned trolley in the borough.  

If the trolleys are not collected, the council will remove and store them with the relevant retailer incurring the charges.  

Garry Parker, Bolton Council’s Assistant Director for Environment and Regulatory Services, said: 

“Although we know it’s a small number of residents who fly tip, abandoned shopping trolleys are a blight on our landscape.

“They are an eyesore, encourage flytipping and are damaging to the environment.

“We welcome these new powers and hope it encourages supermarkets to take robust action in preventing their trolleys being taken and later dumped.” 

A summary of the findings of the consultation can be found on the council website.