Shopping cart by-law to take effect in September
Friday, August 13, 2021
The City’s Legal, Public Works and Building departments have worked together to create the first Shopping Cart By-law that outlines a comprehensive system for the regulation of shopping carts in the City of Sault Ste. Marie.
As part of the By-law, business owners who provide shopping carts to their customers are required to develop and file a plan with the City’s Director of Public Works and Engineering Services identifying which measures it will take to keep the carts on their property or to retrieve them. The plan must include details of the business owner’s operation and timeline of how carts shall be retrieved and returned to the business owner’s premises, a description of the owner’s carts including any easily identifiable features and the contact person and information for the business owner who will be called if carts are found off site.
“Many retail stores use local services to retrieve and recover abandoned carts throughout the City but time frames for collection of carts varies,” said Susan Hamilton Beach, Director of Public Works and Engineering Services. “Shopping carts left on sidewalks, boulevards and paths throughout our City becomes a neighbourhood nuisance and requires a Public Works employee to dispose of the carts. The development of the By-law creates a cart management plan to keep our neighbourhoods and City streets clean and safe.”
The By-law outlines various prohibitions for businesses including customers removing shopping carts from a business owner’s property. The By-law also provides enforcement tools in the event of non-compliance that includes written notice to the business owner to collect their cart and a fine of up to $5000.00 per day for non-compliance. If the business owner fails to comply, the City may collect and remove the cart at the owner’s expense.
“Some businesses have already taken a proactive approach. We recognize that business owners face great challenges in the collection of their carts and we will work with these businesses to provide practical controls and a system to assist in facilitating the pick-up of abandoned shopping carts,” adds Hamilton Beach.
The shopping cart By-law will take effect on September 7, 2021 in order to provide business owners with time to achieve compliance. Completed plans can be emailed to the City’s Director of Public Works at
pwt@cityssm.on.ca for review and approval. For more information visit
saultstemarie.ca/bylaws or phone (705)759-5201.