'Cart corral' aims to keep shopping carts out of Shoal Creek

Dozens of volunteers along Shoal Creek got up early Saturday morning to clean it up. While they were all looking for trash, one local group is working to keep a grocery store staple out of the water.

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Dozens of volunteers along Shoal Creek got up early Saturday morning to clean it up. While they were all looking for trash, one local group is working to keep a grocery store staple out of the water.

"It's a big, big clean-up all over the creek from north Austin down to downtown really close to Lady Bird Lake," said Shoal Creek Conservancy Executive Director Ivey Kaiser.

Volunteers were on a mission: find shopping carts and get them out.

The second annual event was inspired by the Austin Watershed Creek Department's field study from 2022 that found there were more than 500 shopping carts across creeks in the Austin area.

It's a problem, Kaiser said, that seems to get worse over time. Carts get taken from lots and end up in places like Shoal Creek.

The Shoal Creek Conservancy is working with local stores to help keep those carts out of the water.

"Carts themselves cost around $200 a piece, so you're going to be saving money as a retailer by putting cart locks on that would prevent these cars from ending up in the creek or who knows where else," Kaiser added.

Volunteers found plenty of trash in this section off Northcross Drive.

"It's very eye-opening," volunteer Julie Grasse said. "If I'm just working in this little five-foot square section it doesn't feel like I'm picking up a lot but in the grand scheme when you multiply that by how many people out there it makes a big difference."

The conservancy said it hopes some of these carts will find new life once again.

"This is a trend we hope to see grow with taking ownership of carts that wander off, fixing them, repairing them, and putting them back into service," Kaiser said.

The group has a lot of volunteer events, like this one, and is always looking for help. You can learn more about them from its website.

In 2023, the group collected just less than 50 carts. It was expected the same goal would happen Saturday.