Tidy Our Town: Abandoned trolleys slammed as ‘extremely frustrating’ as Northants Litter Womble speaks out

There are around 30 abandoned Tesco trolleys in the Lumbertubs area at the moment and dedicated volunteer Clive Bacchus has even rescued some out of nearby waterways.

Having had to reach out to the supermarket via social media as a last resort, Clive was told the issue would be resolved in seven days.

This ongoing issue with supermarket trolleys was due to be discussed in a meeting between West Northamptonshire Council and the Wombles on Wednesday (October 22), as there is hope that further action can be taken to enforce collection by stores.

Northants Litter Wombles committee member Mark Watson spoke to the Chronicle & Echo and said: “One of our Wombles has been tearing his hair out. He’s a very dedicated chap and has even pulled the trolleys out of waterways. There are huge numbers of them and he is exasperated.”

Mark expressed concerns about the difficulty of entering the locations of the trolleys into the two reporting systems – the West Northamptonshire Council app and Trolleywise. This is why Clive had to go directly to Tesco via their social media channels.

“It’s not good enough,” Mark continued. “It’s damaging and is spoiling people’s enjoyment of the environment. It is potentially threatening to wildlife and sets a bad example for more littering, fly tipping and anti-social behaviour.”

Though conversations are ongoing with the local authority, Mark does not believe taxpayers’ money should be spent on removing the trolleys and it should be the supermarkets who take responsibility.

‘The responsibility of dealing with abandoned trolleys lies with the owners’

This newspaper approached WNC for comment and Councillor Matt Golby, cabinet member for adult care, public health and regulatory services, issued the following response.

“The responsibility of dealing with abandoned trolleys lies with the owners of said trolleys,” he said. “In some cases, supermarkets will use their own staff to collect trolleys and return to store or may employ a company to do this on their behalf.”

Cllr Golby confirmed that the council is currently compiling a full list of trolley owners and their current arrangements, and they are in the early stages of developing a policy on this.

WNC encourages residents to report abandoned trolleys via their website or app.

An update could not be provided about the progress made at the meeting with the Northants Litter Wombles on this issue, as the individuals who attended were on leave at the time this comment was provided.

‘We’re sorry about this’

As the 30 trolleys in the Lumbertubs area were identified as originating from the nearby Tesco store, the supermarket was also approached for comment.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re sorry about this, and we’d like to thank the volunteers for their work in helping keep the local area clean and tidy.

“We encourage all customers to return their trolleys once they have finished their shop, both for others to use and because we don’t want them to cause any harm to the local environment.

“We use a specialist company to retrieve our trolleys, and we’d ask anyone who sees an abandoned Tesco trolley to use the Trolleywise website to report this, or let their local store know so we can get it back as soon as possible.”

The supermarket was also asked if something is being done to resolve the issue in the Lumbertubs area and when this is expected to be completed. A response was not provided.

The Trolleywise website and app can be accessed here for anyone looking to report abandoned trolleys.

If you would like to get involved in the Tidy Our Town campaign, established in collaboration with the Northants Litter Wombles, email [email protected].