River cleanup is nasty work

To remove this garbage, Salt balances himself in his canoe, scoops up what he can with a tennis racket-style tool, hooks it with something that resembles a rake, and dumps it in a garbage bag. Occasionally, county crews can use large machines to scoop up big garbage heaps, but usually it's difficult to get the machinery to the river banks.

Salt is working on several ideas to stop the flow of trash. Just this week, he came up with a few plans that might reduce the number of shopping carts making it to the river.

He and Marsha Gilford, a spokeswoman for Smith's Food & Drug, talked about the possibility of community-outreach programs to teach kids "the life cycle of a shopping cart" and discourage them from using them as toys.

"I think I can say as an industry we recognize that abandoned shopping carts are a community problem that we have tried and are trying to address," Gilford said.

Smith's has installed electronic barriers at several Salt Lake-area stores that lock carts' wheels when the carts leave the premises. Still, people manage to break the locks free. The barriers cost about $40,000 per store. A shopping cart can cost between $100 and $150.

"The quandary for retailers is, we want to help our customers every way we can to have a nice shopping experience," she said. A lot of shoppers would have a hard time carrying their groceries home without a cart. "We're sensitive to that. They are important customers to us. But that's balanced by the fact that, technically, it is theft if you leave the premises with a shopping cart."

Gilford said she is considering offering Great Salt Lakekeeper a contribution to compensate Salt and his fellow volunteers for their work. Once dumped in the river, the grimy carts are no longer of use to Smith's and end up in the landfill. But Gilford said the cleanup work is important for the community, and Smith's wants to help the non-profit so it can keep up its efforts.

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com