THE FOUNDER of Droitwich Spa Litter Squad (DSLS) says the group is having ‘real issues’ with shopping trolleys being dumped in waterways.
And Clive Shearman hit out at the local supermarkets for not securing them.
At the latest litter-pick, the DSLS met up in Paddock Way to remove four vandalised and abandoned trolleys from the River Salwarpe and later found two on the King George V Playing Fields – all in a matter of hours.
He told the Standard: “They are a costly item but they take a whole morning for us to remove safely as you can only do it with the right kit and safety considerations.
Shame on Aldi, Home Bargains, B&M Bargains and Morrisons who again through their laziness and sloppiness of operation have provided the majority of this hazard to the environment.
“Only Lidl seems to have a grip on the trolleys and how to stop them being removed.
“Our group have taken trolleys back and spoken to people in the stores on multiple occasions and it has always had the same result – disinterest and no action.”
Mr Sherman has also asked local councillors for their help with regard to the companies on the Kidderminster Road shopping site as, he said, they must have signed up to some sort of local policy regarding their responsibilities for litter.
He said when the group approached Amazon, the littering that did originate from the company was substantially reduced.
What the shops had to say
An Aldi spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about this issue and would ask customers to return trolleys to the designated collection points available in our Kidderminster Road Store and car park when they have finished shopping.
“When trolleys are not returned, we work with our partners to collect them as quickly as possible.”
Peter Walsh, Home Bargains’ head of store operations, said the company strove to be a considerate neighbour to the communities we serve.
“We partner with Trolleywise to manage our fleet of trolleys at all our stores, which includes checking for abandoned trolleys within our communities.
“We are in contact with our partner to establish what has happened on this occasion.”
He added the public could use the Trolleywise App to report the location of abandoned trolleys, which helped ensure trolleys were collected as quickly as possible.
A B&M spokesperson said: “We were not aware that any of our trolleys had gone missing in the local area.
“We’re grateful this has now been raised with the business so we can act accordingly to collate any that have been stolen.”
They added it was within B&M’s best interest to ensure all trolleys were kept safe, adding they were routinely collected from bays throughout the day and locked up safely overnight.
“We’d kindly ask if anyone in the local area find a dumped B&M trolley to raise this with their local store or centrally with our customer services team so we can arrange for the immediate collection and return of them.”
A Morrisons spokesperson said: “The store team will happily go out and collect any trolleys once they are made aware of their location.”
