TULSA — The City of Tulsa and the Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy have reached agreement with a company which specializes in finding and recovering abandoned shopping carts.

City spokesman Carson Colvin tells KRMG the TARE board has budgeted $100,000 for a pilot program, set to begin next week.

The city will save money not having to deal with the carts itself, he says, and retailers will get more carts back in operation more quickly with a dedicated effort to find and recover them in place.

The Albuquerque-based company, Cart Repo, claims it managed to recover two thousand abandoned grocery carts in one month in its home city, Colvin said.

He added that the city was approached by management at Reasor’s, a regional grocery chain, with the idea of hiring Cart Repo.

In a written statement, the city noted that if successful, the program would benefit retailers as well as the city itself.

"Currently, the City of Tulsa’s Asset Management Department collects abandoned shopping carts and holds them in a City facility for disposal," the statement reads in part. “Instead of disposing of these shopping carts, grocers will be able to buy them back from Shopping Cart Repo at a much lower cost than having to buy new ones, as is the current case.”

The company will begin operations December 2nd.