DUDLEY councillor's are going s-hopping mad about people dumping supermarket trollys in Netherton.

Cllr Tracy Wood blames irresponsible residents for the number of trolleys dumped at Saltwells Nature Reserve - which has reached epidemic proportions.

Nature wardens are so swamped with trolleys they have been contacting scrap metal dealers to take the supermarket heap away.

Cllr Wood, Dudley cabinet member for the environment, said: "I am shocked by the amount dumped, residents of the borough should be a bit more responsible about caring for the environment. People dumping trolleys should pack it in and supermarkets don't seem to want them back."

Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood cllr Bryan Cotterill says most of the trolleys come from the nearby Merry Hill shopping centre and supermarkets should do more because costs get passed on to customers.

He said: "This is an enormous problem, they should be taking this far more seriously, they are on embankments and in canals.

"We have got to do something about them, its crazy and the cost of replacing them is reflected in our shopping bills."

Warden Stephen Rowland, from the Coppice Road reserve, added: "We got about 22 in a matter of two weeks.

"They throw them in rivers and they are mesh which gets clogged up with leaves, this creates a dam which could cause flooding in parts of Brierley Hill.

"Wildlife gets trapped and we have to get into flooded culverts to get trolleys out, which could put us in danger."

Neil Woodall, from Mason Metals Ltd in Brierley Hill, says responsible scrap dealers would only accept trollys if sellers can prove they are not stolen.

He said: "We always check to make sure the ownership is legitimate, if the police came onto our site and we couldn't explain we would be in trouble."

Trolleys have an estimated scrap value of around £3 and, although supermarkets never reveal what they pay for them, the News has been told the figure could be more than £100 each.

A Sainsburys spokesperson said: “We have pound coin slots fitted on our trolleys as an incentive for people to return them.

"We keep an eye out for trolleys left outside our premises and really welcome customers letting us know about abandoned trolleys. We will always send someone to go and get them.”

Dean Davenport, ambient manager at ASDA Merry Hill, said: "All of our trolleys have pound sticks on them and I am not aware of a lack of trolleys, we don't have many go missing.

"We would go and collect ours from the nature reserve."