Have you noticed the abundance of abandoned shopping carts throughout Tacoma? The Central Neighborhood Council has, and the organization is actively encouraging the City of Tacoma to enact policies to put an end to the unsightly trend. 

Abandoned carts can be found in Tacoma's parks, lining city streets, throughout downtown (where there isn't even a grocery store yet), and even along the Foss Water Way, where multiple abandoned carts become visible during low tide and are covered during high tide.

The Central Neighborhood Council has taken an active lead addressing this dilemma, in no small part because in their neighborhoods abandoned shopping carts are more than an occasional nuisance, but an everyday frustration.

"There is an abundance of abandoned shopping carts throughout Tacoma, but more prevalently on Hilltop," says Justin Leighton of the Central Neighborhood Council.

Leighton, a Hilltop homeowner, says there are many misperceptions about the shopping cart problem in his neighborhood, including one that assumes all of the carts originate from one grocer. "They're not just from Hilltop Safeway, but Top Foods, Target, Hong Kong Market, and even Fred Meyers on 19^th," says Leighton.

The carts are most often taken from stores to transport groceries and then abandoned after one trip.

"There is no city ordnance on the books to deal with this," Leighton explains. "It does not currently violate RCW code to steal or remove a shopping cart, and there is no deterrent from the city or the stores for removing them."

Leighton says the most likely solution is individual stores taking responsibility for their carts. "The stores need to take some responsibility in preventing the shopping carts from leaving their property," he says. Many, including Leighton, believe this will only happen if the City of Tacoma develops policy to encourage stores to do so. "They should require each grocery store in the city to develop a preventive plan," says Leighton.

In the City of Renton, for instance, stores that provide carts to customers must have "Shopping Cart Containment and Retrieval Plans" approved by the city. When a cart is displaced stores receive one warning regarding the cart and if they do not retrieve it they are fined $50.

Not to be overlooked in the consideration of this dilemma is the fact many lower income residents do depend on shopping carts to transport their groceries from stores to their homes. The Central Neighborhood Council is encouraging community organizations, neighborhood councils, and the city to develop a program to aide those who need assistance in transporting groceries, and the organization has passed a motion to urge the city to make this a priority. The Central Neighborhood Council is also currently working with city staff to determine the right path to solving the problem.