Waterway being polluted with trolleys
An Auckland resident says there needs to be an incentive to bring supermarket trolleys back to the store.
Jacqui Ross said she was fed up after years of people dumping trolleys in a culvert near her Massey home that led into Huruhuru Creek.
‘‘It’s started to bug me more,’’ she said.
‘‘Apart from the fact that it’s pollution and it’s an eyesore, it is actually costing money.’’
Ross said the trolleys were often from Pak ‘n Save on Lincoln Rd or Countdown.
She said she had seen up to 10 trolleys dumped in the creek at any one time.
People would take the trolleys home after doing their shopping and would leave them outside on the street, Ross said.
Young people would then come along and push them into the creek, she said.
‘‘When they go into the waterways, they are pollution. The material that they are made out of is not good for waterways and for the wildlife.’’
Auckland Council general manager of waste solutions Parul Sood said the illegal dumping could cause flooding if other debris got caught in the trolley.
He said it was the responsibility of the trolley owner to remove it, whether it was dumped in a waterway or not.
‘‘When the supermarket can be identified we request that they remove the trolleys.
‘‘If we remove the trolley on
‘‘Apart from the fact that it's pollution and it's an eyesore, it is actually costing money.’’
Jacqui Ross
their behalf, the owner will be given the opportunity to collect it if they are prepared to reimburse the removal costs,’’ Sood said.
Ross said she didn’t think trolley dumping was malicious, but merely a thing kids wanted to do.
The Massey resident said supermarkets needed a solution similar to what was being done in stores in England.
Whilst living in London, Ross said Tesco required a coin deposit in the trolley to release it from the stack.
Once the trolley was returned, the money would come out of the trolley, Ross said.
Antoinette Laird of Foodstuffs New Zealand said trolley theft was a problem at some stores and they were taken for a variety of reasons.
She said each owner-operator wore the cost of missing trolleys and that ranged from $150-$300 depending on the trolleys size.