For some reason I’ve always found shopping trolleys incredibly amusing. Yes I mean the wire framed object as found in your local supermarket and more often than not, left on the side of the road, under a bridge or in a ditch. I have spent the last year photographing trolleys and found that this project highlighted the fact that since you no longer have to pay to use them whilst shopping in most places, more trolleys are being wheeled away from their base and then abandoned. I’ve discovered them in parking spaces, bus stations, roadsides and even people’s gardens; some still contained items like a loaf of bread and a car tyre.

On a more serious note, it is estimated that 10,000 new trolleys are stolen every year and many of these end up abandoned. The cost of replacement for retailers is around £80 per trolley. Dealing with the removal, storage and disposal of abandoned trolleys also places a considerable burden on local authorities. Preventing trolleys from leaving a site is always the preferred approach, though this is not always possible, for example where customers choose to take shopping to their homes. Some Borough Council’s provide a free phone number which the public can use to report any abandoned shopping trolleys and The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) produce guidance for the management of shopping trolleys.

The humble trolley is now brought to you in by way of this photo book –
Off my Trolley by Jeane Trend-Hill. See [link] for more details.