We have all seen them around Hucknall – shopping trolleys left on pavements, dumped on grass verges, pushed into parks or, worse still, thrown into streams and waterways.

It might seem like a small thing, but they can make an area look neglected very quickly.

And when they end up in parks or waterways, they can become a genuine problem for wildlife and the environment.

This week I came across an abandoned trolley on Lime Tree Road.

Coun Lee Waters, Ashfield Independents district councillor for Hucknall Central. Phpto: Submitted

placeholder image — Coun Lee Waters, Ashfield Independents district councillor for Hucknall Central. Phpto: Submitted

I reported it through Trolleywise, a national service that specialises in recovering abandoned shopping trolleys.

I downloaded the app, took a photograph, marked the location and sent the report in.

I thought it was worth highlighting because there is a fairly simple reporting route available and the more people who know about it, the easier it should be to get abandoned trolleys picked up rather than left sitting around.

Sometimes returning a trolley to the shop might be straightforward.

A shopping trolley dumped in a stream can become an obstruction and cause harm to wildlife and the wider environment

Other times it clearly is not.

It may be a long way from the store, there may be no obvious way of telling which retailer it belongs to, or it could be in a stream, down an embankment, beside a busy road or somewhere awkward to reach.

Trolleywise says abandoned trolleys are regularly found on roads, walkways, in parks and in rivers, canals and other waterways.

The ones in water are probably the worst.

A metal trolley dumped in a stream is not just ugly.

It can become an obstruction and cause harm to wildlife and the wider environment.

It is also often somewhere members of the public should not be trying to retrieve it themselves.

On land, it is more about the general appearance of an area.

One abandoned trolley probably does not sound dramatic, but leave enough little things lying around and somewhere can quickly start to feel uncared for.

That is really why I thought this was worth mentioning.

If you come across one, there are a few options.

If the retailer is obvious, you can contact the supermarket directly.

You can also use the free Trolleywise app to report the location and send a photograph.

If you cannot tell who owns it, or you are simply unsure who should deal with it, Ashfield District Council is also a sensible place to start and ask for the issue to be directed appropriately.

It is not the biggest issue in Hucknall, but it is one of those small things that is relatively easy to report once you know where to go.

And if a few more abandoned trolleys get removed from our streets, parks and waterways as a result, that can only be a good thing.