A program that collects abandoned shopping carts from the side of the road returned over 200 carriages to their rightful owners during the month of July.  LoHud reports that this is all part of a program called Keep Rockland Beautiful.  Last year the organization held 3 shopping cart recovery events in Rockland County and collected a whopping 572 of them.  According to the event organizer, Tom Kyle of Nanuet, the carts are usually abandoned for practical reasons:

Our observation is people bringing the carts back (home) with groceries and most of them have difficulty walking and they either have difficulty paying for a taxi, don't have a car or (the groceries) are too difficult to bring on the bus...

Those carts on the side of the road aren't just an eyesore either.  They can range in price from $75 to $250 per cart.  Some stores have theft prevention procedures in place either by choice or local ordinance, but not getting back a 25 cent deposit isn't much of a deterrence.

Are you sick of seeing abandoned shopping carts on the side of the road? Do you think a program like this would be welcome in your community?

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