Supermarkets in Ipswich face hefty fines over abandoned trollies
The council says the number found dumped has tripled in recent years
Supermarkets in Ipswich could be charged hundreds of pounds per dumped trolley after the number of shopping trollies strewn across roads, parks, walkways and waterways increased by 308% in just two years.
Ipswich Borough Council yesterday voted unanimously in favour of implementing charges to supermarkets for the handling of abandoned trollies.
This comes as data from the council’s Waste and Cleansing Team found the average instances of abandoned shopping trollies so far this year was eight per month. Compared to the 2020 average of 2.6 per month, this was a 308% increase.
The monitoring of abandoned trollies began after a resident living near Bourne Park contacted Labour councillors Bryony Rudkin and Phil Smart on the issue of Asda trollies dumped in the green space.
Having talked to Asda representatives, councillor Rudkin said the argument given against implementing measures to prevent trolley dumping such as pound slots was damage to the “customer experience”.
She said: “Some people might ask why the supermarkets must pay when it is the customers who are abandoning the trolleys, but it would be very hard to get hold of the customers and it is the supermarkets providing the trolleys.”
The company responsible for an abandoned trolley will be charged £50 per trolley for its collection, return and/or disposal by the council. Costs will also include £5 per day per trolley if the council organises storage, up to a maximum of 42 days.
A public consultation found that 94% of respondents reported seeing trolleys around Ipswich and culprits were most commonly Asda shoppers, as this company owned just over 34% of the trolleys reported by respondents.
Trolleys were most commonly sighted in parks, with 29 of the 35 those surveyed reporting finding them in these spaces.
The proposal to charge supermarkets was supported by 79% of respondents.
Those who responded during the four-week consultation included 34 members of the public and one business response by telephone.