Sunday 1 March 2009

New life for dead shopping trolleys


British Waterways has launched a hotline to deal with the perennial problem of abandoned shopping trolleys. It has been estimated that over 3,000 trolleys are pulled from its network every year. But what happens to a trolley once it has been rescued? Supermarkets reclaim a few, but the majority end their life in landfill. Because what else can you do with a dead supermarket trolley?

Lucy Mangan of the Guardian Newspaper has come up with a few ideas including using them to cut Olympics costs: "They're strong, they're metal, they look a bit like parts of all those building diagrams you see on the news - surely they must be able to brace something somewhere?". She also suggested hanging baskets for giants.

Meanwhile the magically named Ptolemy Elrington, an artist from Brighton uses them to make sculptures of animals.Here's a picture of Ptolomey with one of his creations.

What would you do with a dead shopping trolley? Let us know your ideas.

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