Hundreds of dockless bikes are being dumped in canals and rivers and most operators should do more help clean up the mess, the body responsible for the UK’s waterways has complained.

The Canal & River Trust said it was growing increasingly frustrated by the number of hire bikes abandoned in and beside its 2,000-mile network. It said more than 100 hire bikes a year were being thrown into canals in London alone.

The trust’s latest haul, gathered at its depot beside the Thames, included 20 Mobikes, nine Ofo bikes, an Urbo bike, a new Lime electric bike and seven Santander bikes from London’s official docking cycle scheme.

Joe Coggins, a spokesman for the trust, said: “We remove around 100 per year and that’s just in London. There are probably more than that being dumped – it’s really frustrating.”

Some providers, including Freebike, have been proactive in helping recover dumped cycles and Santander reimburses the trust for each of its returned bikes. But Coggins said most providers had been unwilling to help.

“We think it’s because they get their bikes so cheaply that it’s not cost-effective to cover the cost of their return,” he said.

Bikes recovered from London’s waterways at a Canal & Rivers Trust depot beside the Thames. Photograph: Canal & Rivers Trust

Vandalism and abandoned bikes have led some operators, including the Chinese firm Ofo, to abandon the UK. Last year, Mobike withdrew from Manchester after 10% of its fleet was destroyed or stolen, and in April it suspended operations in Newcastle and Gateshead when many of its bikes were dumped in the Tyne.

Wherever various cycle sharing schemes have been introduced, bikes have been abandoned in or beside waterways. Examples include YoBikes in the River Avon and River Frome in Bristol; a nextbike beside Cardiff’s River Taf; Ofo bikes in the River Cam, south of Cambridge, and in the River Wensum in Norwich; a Lime bike in the River Wandle in south-west London; and one of Uber’s new electric Jump bikes abandoned by the waterside in London. Meanwhile, Mobikes continue to emerge from Manchester’s canals and the Tyne.

Richard Dilks, the chief executive of CoMoUK, the trade body for bike-share operators, offered to talk to the trust about how they could help tackle the problem.

“No operator wants their bikes to end up in a canal. It sends the wrong message for all concerned and has a damaging visual impact on the reputation of the provider and shared bikes more generally,” he said.

‘Catastrophic damage’

As one of the trust’s waterways operatives, it is Aidan Slater’s job to keep a stretch of London’s Regent’s Canal clear for navigation. When he first started the job six years ago, he found about one hire bike under each bridge every week. Now it’s two or three per bridge a week. “There are so many more hire companies now, and the bikes aren’t docked, so that many more end up in the canal,” he says.

“It used to be mainly Santander bikes, but since they improved the security of the docking stations we get fewer of them now. The new generation of hire bikes can be left anywhere, so there’s an increasing likelihood of them ending up in the water.”

When Slater receives a report of a boat hitting a dockless bike on a dark stretch underneath a Eurostar railway bridge, he and a crew of three volunteers set off for another “bike-fishing” trip in their maintenance barge, the Hanwell. A thick carpet of duckweed makes it impossible to see beneath the surface so the crew have to poke about for the bike using boat hooks and a grappling iron.

A recovery operation under way on Regent’s Canal near King’s Cross. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Eventually they snag the buckled front wheel of a Lime ebike and begin hauling it out of the water. Slater is annoyed by how much time he now has to spend recovering bikes. “We could be doing things instead to improve the environment,” he says.

Pointing to the sodden, weed-covered bike, he says: “That could cause catastrophic damage to a boat. If a propeller gets wrapped round a bicycle then the boater has got a £500 bill just for the parts, never mind the labour.”

Slater wants the operators to do more to help. “It would be great if we had some arrangement with them for collecting the bikes. We have to dispose of them at our own expense, which isn’t fair.”

He says hire companies should do more to encourage users not to leave bikes near water. It would also help if the bikes had to be chained to something when parked. “If you leave a bike on the towpath, the chances are that someone is going to throw it into the water. I want the operators to listen. I’d tell them: inform your users not to leave bikes anywhere near water.”

The Lime ebike was taken away on the Hamwell with two other abandoned hire bikes and two regular bikes that Slater had recovered on previous days. They will join the growing pile of abandoned cycles at the trust’s depot.

Lime bikes told the Guardian it had contacted the trust to offer help in tackling the problem. A spokeswoman said: “We have marked out extensive no-parking-zones along all canals and rivers in London and fine users for parking bikes in these areas.”

Abandoned bikes and any other waterway hazards can be reported to the trust on 0303 040 4040.