OGDEN — Information about abandoned shopping carts included in the latest Ogden Neighborhood Newsletter was only about half true: Vancouver does not work with an independent contractor to sweep streets of shopping carts and return them to supermarkets. “A number of years ago, we had a fellow who approached us to do that, a retired gentleman,” said operations superintendent Tim Buck. “I don’t know what happened to him.”
The city gets calls from citizens about shopping carts in streets, creeks and stormwater bioswales, and it will scoop up and dispose of carts that are creating hazards. But it doesn’t want to encourage people to push carts home, dump them in public spaces and then call for clean-up, he said.
The city’s operations center is open for calls and questions at 360-696-8177, but the Ogden newsletter notice about dispatching some contracted cart returner is “a little bit of misinformation or misunderstanding, I think,” Buck said.
Call your supermarket about shopping carts abandoned on private property.
