The City's Safety, Wellness, and Youth Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to continue a pilot program targeting abandoned shopping carts, following a three-month effort that logged more than 1,300 carts citywide.
The pilot, which ran from August to mid-November 2025, logged 1,317 shopping carts — roughly 60% in Wards 5 and 6.
Of those, 544 were actively used by homeless individuals, 430 were empty, and 343 contained trash. The Solid Waste Mitigation Crew removed 199 carts through daily collection.
Joint enforcement sweeps with police removed 161 carts total — 81 in two documented operations in September and October, plus approximately 80 in a third sweep last week.
The October sweep resulted in 24 citations after officers contacted approximately 40 homeless individuals. Staff noted in the report that after the September sweep, some individuals were observed "reacquiring replacement carts shortly after."
The pilot revealed operational challenges. About 23% of carts could not be collected because homeless individuals were present; crews were instructed not to engage for safety reasons.
Another 26% of carts were no longer at their location when crews responded — sometimes within 30 minutes of the initial report.
Under current rules, carts must be tagged and left for 48 hours before they can be removed.
Councilmember Sean Mill offered support for the program, framing shopping cart theft as part of broader quality-of-life enforcement.
"A shopping cart costs more than a 1984 Honda Civic cost," Mill said. "Yet if the Riverside Police Department found someone driving down the street in somebody's 1984 Honda Civic, we would arrest them, but we allow folks to steal someone else's property and walk up and down the street freely. It's time that we put a stop to that."
"Who do you think actually pays for the shopping carts when they have to replace them? We do in the cost of higher groceries and higher services," he said. "This effort that we're doing is helping us as consumers, and it's also helping with clearing up the continued blight that we're seeing throughout our community."
Chair Jim Perry, who represents Ward 6 where cart reports are highest, said he has personally submitted numerous reports through the city's 311 system and has noticed results.
"I can pulverize 311 all by myself," Perry said, adding that he has seen "a dramatic decrease" in cart numbers. "Is improvement still needed? Yes, but I think we're on the right road."
An in-house program with two full-time workers would cost approximately $237,000 in the first year, dropping to $167,000-$168,000 in subsequent years. Contracting the service would run about $155,000 initially and $147,000-$148,000 ongoing.
While outsourcing would be cheaper, Rendon noted that "safety was the primary issue identified from this pilot program."
Conder described the frustration of watching carts move through neighborhoods to avoid collection, suggesting the 48-hour rule allows people to simply relocate carts to reset the clock.
"I'll see it there for a day and a half, two days, and it'll be gone," Conder said. "And I'll go 200 yards up the street and pretty sure by the stuff that's in it, it's the same damn one. They just keep moving it around. That's very frustrating to the neighborhood."
Conder said he was "nervous about the non-trained people" handling collections and favored keeping the work in-house. He said having trained personnel from the police department or the Public Safety Engagement Team was "the better way."
The committee did not specify which approach the city should pursue or identify funding for the program's continuation.
Senate Bill 753, introduced in February 2025 and signed into law in October, allows local governments to charge retailers up to $100 per recovered cart — up from the city's current $20-per-delivery fee. The legislation has already prompted some retailers to improve cart security measures. CarTrac, the city's contractor for collecting empty carts, has reported monthly retrievals dropping from 652 carts to 365 carts compared to the previous fiscal year.
City Council does not meet this week. The Economic Development Committee will consider billboard rule changes allowing digital displays in exchange for revenue sharing, and the Safety Committee is reviewing a shopping cart tracking pilot program.
