Retailers Must Pay if Shopping Carts Stray
Saying they are tired of seeing shopping carts abandoned across town, City Council members agreed Tuesday to require retailers either to hire cart retrieval services or pay fines.
“It’s metal graffiti all over the city,” said Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater.
Under the new ordinance, retailers who do not have an acceptable cart retrieval policy, either on their own or by hiring an outside contractor, must pay the city $11 for each shopping cart that city workers round up and return to them.
That fee is much higher than what private cart retrieval services usually charge: about $13 to return as many as 15 carts, said Richard Conrad, the city’s public services director.
The new law “gives us a tool, a financial incentive for stores to join a service,” Councilman Mark Leyes said. The council will likely give the plan final approval at its June 25 meeting.
City officials said most major retail chains operating in Garden Grove already have cart retrieval systems in place. The new ordinance, they said, is designed to encourage “mom and pop” stores to participate.
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