Check this out, 70 shopping trolleys hauled from river
RIVER cleaners have pulled up 70 shopping trolleys in one day while clearing a small stretch of waterway.
Workers extracted the ageing supermarket wire trolleys this week after spotting a huge clump of them stuck in mud at low tide.
Crew aboard a debris recovery vessel used a crane to dislodge the carts, scattered along the banks of the River Thames in east London.
Port of London Authority spokesman Gareth Dorrian said: “It is the largest amount of trolleys that have ever been taken out of the river in one day.
“I can only assume they were put there by litter bugs with bad motives.”
Michael Russell, marine manager with the port authority, added: “The PLA works very hard to clear rubbish from the river.
“But this incredible find in one pocket of the tidal Thames shows what a mammoth task it is.
“Throwing trolleys into the river is simply reckless, the tide goes out and they get stuck on the foreshore.
“Dumping huge objects like this threatens wildlife habitats and could cause environmental damage.
“They also look dreadful and, more importantly, could become a hazard to the thousands of ships navigating the Thames every year.”
The metal mess will now be taken away for recycling.
The PLA pulls more than 200 tons of rubbish from the river each year, including plastic bottles, traffic cones, bicycles and, occasionally, cars using floating passive debris collectors at key points along the 95-mile tidal Thames.