shoppingtrolleys

Derelict London - Photography, Social History and Guided Walking Tours

As well as being eyesores, abandoned trolleys can cause environmental damage. Local authorities are currently responsible for recovering trolleys and returning them to supermarkets. This can costs both councils and retailers money and these costs are then passed onto consumers through council tax and food price rises.

According to Trolleywise (who have designed a smartphone app to report dumped trolleys) more than half of all shopping trolleys in service in the UK - around one million go missing from supermarket car parks each year.

Here is a collection of trolleys photographed over the years:

Abandoned supermarket shopping trolley disposed of in the Barking Creek (River Roding) beneath the A13

Barking - River Roding

Abandoned supermarket shopping trolley disposed of in the Regents Canal, Limehouse

Limehouse Regents Canal

Abandoned supermarket shopping trolley & bus stop sign disposed of in the River Ravesbourne by Deptford Creek

Deptford - Deptford Creek

Abandoned supermarket shopping trolleys disposed of in the City Mill River in Stratford near the Olympic Park

Stratford - City Mill River

Abandoned supermarket shopping trolleys disposed of in the River Darent in Dartford

Dartford - River Darent

Abandoned supermarket shopping trolley disposed of in the Beverley Brook in Barnes, South West London

Barnes - Beverley Brook

Shopping trolley missing from supermarket car park and in the muddy river in London

Greenwich - River Thames

missing from supermarkets are thousands of shopping trolleys

Strood - River Medway

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs advises councils to use specialist contractors and liaise with the Environment Agency to remove trolleys from rivers and waterways to contact the Canals and Rivers Trust about trolleys found in their inland waterways.

'If you can identify trolley owners, you must give them notice to claim any trolleys you’ve removed.

This notice must state all of the following:

that you’ve removed the trolley and are keeping it
where you’re keeping it
that you may dispose of the trolley if they don’t claim it
You must deliver the trolley to its owner if they claim it and they pay all costs within 6 weeks.

If the owner doesn’t pay, you don’t have to return the trolley.

You must keep trolleys for 6 weeks after removing them. If you’ve tried to find the owner and they’ve not claimed the trolleys in this time, you can sell or dispose of them.

You can claim the costs of removal, storage and disposal from trolley owners. You must review your charges each year to make sure they cover these costs.'

Abandoned Shopping Trolleys - Not in a River:

Canning Town

The main picture here taken beside Bow Creek is a giant DNA double-helix structure made out of shopping trolleys.

The structure was created by artist Abigail Fallis in response to the issues of genetics and consumerism. It alludes to scientific investigations into the designer baby and the lengths to which society is prepared to go in order to create a perfect specimen.

Here are some more shopping trolleys not submerged in mud or water:

Barking suicidal supermarket shopping trolley surrounded by weeds

Discarded shopping trolley overgrown and full of rubbish in Brentford, West London

Abandoned supermarket shopping trolley on brownfield site in London

shopping trolleys abandoned by the Canning Town Flyover by Bow Creek

Dead rusty shopping trolleys salvaged from the river in London

rusty redundant supermarket shopping trolleys in South London

supermarket shopping trolley containing a dumped washing machine in London

Abandoned shopping trolley full of rubbish in Stonebridge Park, North London

Trolley full of black bin bags in Wood Green

Nature takes over abandoned shopping trolley in London

Each trolley can cost between £50 and £100. Its shelf-life is about five to seven years

Abandoned Shopping Trolleys in the River Thames

abandoned supermarket shopping trolleys can cause environmental damage and are eyesores

dumped supermarket trolleys on the Thames foreshore in Charlton, South London

submerged shopping trolley on the River Thames in Belvedere

abandoned supermarket shopping trolleys submerged on the Thames in Deptford

Local authorities are currently responsible for recovering abandoned trolleys and returning them to supermarkets.

Submerged abandoned supermarket trolley in Old Father Thames in South London

supermarket shopping trolley disposed of in the Thames in South London

pile of discarded abandoned shopping trolleys on the Thames in Grays, Essex

discarded Iceland supermarket shopping trolley on the Thames foreshore at low tide

supermarket shopping trolleys disposed of in the Thames in South London

Only the wheel visible of discarded supermarket shopping trolley in the Thames mud

Red tape from The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs about removing trolleys

Before you start removing trolleys, you must:

consult people affected (or their representatives)
formally adopt the powers
leave at least 3 months between making the decision to adopt the powers to remove abandoned trolleys and those powers coming into effect
announce in at least 1 local newspaper that you will now be removing abandoned trolleys, once the powers have come into effect
You must then consult the people affected from time to time about how you’re using the powers.

You can end your powers to remove abandoned trolleys at any time.

Who you need to consult
You must consult people who’ll be affected before you start removing trolleys and from time to time. This usually includes:

local retailers who offer trolleys
representative bodies, for example, the British Retail Consortium, the Association of Town Centre Management and the Association of Convenience Stores
local residents
local police
the Environment Agency

East of the M25.... Abandoned Shopping Trolleys in the River Medway in Kent

The Canal and River Trust, which took over responsibility for canals from British Waterways in 2012, told BBC News while abandoned trolleys was an "emotive subject" it was not necessarily a huge problem.

abandoned supermarket shopping trolley in River Medway in Strood, Kent

Dumped shopping trolleys in the River Medway near Rochester, Kent

abandoned trolleys can cause environmental damage and are an eyesore

around one million shopping trolleys go missing from supermarket car parks each year.

abandoned supermarket shopping trolleys, a bicycle and traffic cone in the River Medway

Suicidal Supermarket Trolley in the River Medway, Kent

Crushed supermarket trolley on the foreshore of the River medway

In 2009, British Waterways launched a hotline for people to report any wayward trolleys spotted in canals or rivers. Figures the organisation quoted at the time gave an estimate of about 3,000 being dumped annually, and it said fishing them out of its network cost £150,000 each year.
But after a weak response the hotline was eventually wound up. The Canal and River Trust, which took over responsibility for canals from British Waterways in 2012, told BBC News while it was an "emotive subject" it was not necessarily a huge problem.

Abandoned Shopping Trolleys in Some Other London Waterways:

And a zimmer frame.....

Dumped and abandoned supermarket shopping trolley in the Longford River in Hanwell

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs advises councils to use specialist contractors and liaise with the Environment Agency to remove trolleys from rivers and waterways to contact the Canals and Rivers Trust about trolleys found in their inland waterways.

abandoned shopping trolley in the Pymmes Brook in New Barnet, North London

submerged abandoned shopping trolley in the River Lea in Ponders End, Nort London

abandoned zimmer frame in old Royal Arsenal canal in Thamesmead near Woolwich

Some trolleys retrieved by councils get recycled by Symonds Hydroclean - a Welsh firm that specialises in recycling abandoned shopping trolleys.