GLENDALE, Ariz. — You probably see a few of them driving around the valley: shopping carts abandoned on sidewalks or parking lots far from where they belong.
It's a common sight in Glendale, and the city is now taking action to stop this from happening.
On Tuesday night, the Glendale City Council approved an ordinance that would require nearly 1,900 businesses to either install anti-theft devices on their shopping carts or enter into a service contract with a cart retrieval service.
Deputy City Manager Rick St. John said they started looking into the issue a few years ago.
"Not only as a blight concern, but can also be a pedestrian traffic flow concern," St. John said.
Several neighboring towns have adopted similar ordinances and St. John didn't want Glendale to be different.
"We ended up adopting something that was almost identical to the city of Avondale," St. John said.
This ordinance will come as a cost to businesses with shopping carts, but St. John believes the amount businesses are paying to purchase new carts will now go towards stopping shopping carts from being removed.
"We are going to work with all of our retailer establishments to figure out what works best for them and help them make a wise decision for their business," St. John said.
While the ordinance was passed Tuesday, current retailers have until October to be in compliance. New retailers will have to be in compliance by April. If not, the business will face a civil citation for every cart that doesn't have a device on it or if no cart retrieval agreement has been reached.
As for how this will impact the homeless population using carts to carry their property, St. John claimed the city will work with them.
“If we do encounter someone that has a shopping cart that’s full of their property, we are going to work with them to protect their property but also help them in compliance with the ordinance,” St. John said.
12News spoke with a Glendale man who didn't want to reveal his name but said he works for a towing company that picks up abandoned shopping carts.
Having contracts with apartment complexes, the man goes to the property to pick up the carts and then bring them back to their business. He said his company had about 500 shopping carts at one point. They are either returned to the retailer or broken down for scrap.
He also said many carts the company has picked up already have the anti-theft device on them that would lock the wheels up when the cart is too far from the store. Still, 12News saw some of them around town nowhere near their shop.
Latest Arizona news
Catch up on the latest news and stories on our 12News YouTube playlist here.