Shopping carts are at the center of new legislation in Prince George's County, Maryland, after residents say they've found shopping carts at apartment complexes, near dumpsters, on the side of the road and in other unusual places.
“In New Carrollton, they’ll take a cart from somewhere and they come and leave it at my door,” one woman told News4.
“I think it’s an eyesore, seeing all of the carts in the parking lots, in neighborhoods, in apartment buildings. That needs to stop," another woman said.
Prince George's County leaders said they also want the stray carts to come to a halt.
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“Abandonment of shopping carts, which can seem very, like, a nuisance or a random issue, but it’s really gotten exacerbated, the amount of shopping carts that are actually in our community,” Council member Wanika Fisher said.
Fisher said she decided to sponsor a proposal after a cart landed in her yard and after receiving several complaints from residents in her district.
“People throw trash in them; they end up just being a part of, like, wooded areas and in our medians and can be quite dangerous,” Fisher said.
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“It could hit a car; it could hit people,” a shopper told News4. "Sometimes they’re just left all over the place."
The shopping cart control bill would require retailers to implement preventative measures to keep people from taking carts off store property and dumping them somewhere else.
Retailers with more than 20 shopping carts would have to label and equip them with anti-theft measures and establish timelines to retrieve the carts. Businesses that don't comply would face a $2,000 fine, Fisher said.
“Keep retailers responsible for the carts that they utilize in their business,” Fisher said.
The Maryland Retailers Alliance agreed cart theft is an issue and safeguards are needed. However, the group opposes the fine.
“It ultimately comes across as businesses being held financially responsible for crimes that are committed against and on their property,” said Sarah Price with the Maryland Retailers Alliance.
Price said the preventative measures the bill is calling for aren't cheap.
“Some of the wheel-locking programs that would help to mitigate and keep a cart on a property can cost an average of $30,000," she said.
Wheel-locking systems are one of the anti-theft measures mentioned in the proposed legislation. Other systems include electronic disabling devices on carts, hiring a security guard to monitor the carts or coin-deposit methods similar to those on Aldi shopping carts.
