ARCHIVED - 366 supermarket trolleys cleared from the streets of Alicante this year
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Trolleys were found dumped on Alicante beaches, in coves and public parks
Abandoned shopping trolleys are an issue in most towns and cities, with some local authorities proposing fines for supermarkets and a number of large chains replacing coins with trackers so they can be easily retrieved if dumped elsewhere.
And Alicante is no exception, with the company in charge of cleaning and the collection of urban waste in the city, UTE Alicante, this week revealing it has collected 366 trolleys "from all sorts of place" so far this year - an average of one a day.
Abandoned trolleys have been found on the city's beaches, hidden in coves, in public squares such as San Blas or La Montañeta, in the middle of main central roads oand in parks in different neighbourhoods.
A small percentage of trolleys have also been removed from obscure places following complaints from residents through the UTE Alicante citizen Whatsapp helpline, 670 086 411.
To date, 216 of the trolleys have been collected by the different supermarket chains, and 150 are still at Alicante Waste Treatment Centre (CETRA) facilities in Fontcalent.
"A few years ago we would only really be collecting discarded trolleys after the pilgrimage of Santa Faz and on a few other specific dates, but now they appear almost every day on public roads and the coastline," explaiend UTE.
However, according to the director of the Association of Supermarkets of the Valencian Community (ASUCOVA), Pedro Reig, "this is an issue that has always been there and that has been reduced, partly due to the improvement in people's civic behaviour, the coordination with the authorities, the use of plastic trolleys and the implementation of security and surveillance systems by supermarkets".
Several supermarkets have already incorporated mechanisms in their trolleys whereby the wheels lock when they move a certain distance away from the establishment.
But whilst Reig argued the problem has been reduced, he stressed that the "undesirable habit represents quite a high cost at the end of the year for companies".
"We have to bear in mind that the profit margin in food distribution is very low, around 2.5%, and despite the fact that these incidents are being reduced and the situation is improving, it continues to be a problem for supermarkets".
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