In the year since Tamworth Regional Council began impounding abandoned shopping trolleys from streets and parks – and even out of the river – statistics released this week show it is a growing problem.

The council manager responsible, Ross Briggs, said that from December to this week, TRC had impounded 590 trolleys – but since the start of the year, an average of 10 were being collected each day.

TRC began the trolley pick-up project last February to remove stray shopping trolleys from streets, waterways and footpaths.

Under the plan, retail owners are able to collect their trolleys after paying a $72 impounding fee. They don’t incur any fees or penalties if they collect their trolleys from the CBD and surrounding areas before council staff do.

But Mr Briggs said while there had been a significant drop in numbers of abandoned trolleys after the launch of the project, there had been a noticeable increase over the past few months.

And he said that despite some local retailers increasing their efforts to keep trolleys where they belonged, some retailers were failing to even collect their trolleys from TRC.

He said Coles at Southgate used trolleys with wheel-lock mechanisms that activated once the trolley reached a certain distance from the store.

Other retailers had increased the frequency of collecting their trolleys. 

Some chained their trolleys overnight to avoid them going astray.

The council said abandoned trolleys posed a hazard to vehicles and pedestrians, and also clogged up waterways.

“At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of local retailers to ensure their trolleys are not posing a risk to motorists, pedestrians or the environment,” Mr Briggs said.

If the situation didn’t improve, he said TRC could consider imposing fines to retail outlets as well as individuals caught dumping trolleys.