Call for clean-up of abandoned trolleys
A TOWNSVILLE resident says our streets and parks are becoming littered with abandoned shopping trolleys and is calling on the supermarkets to step up and stop the problem.
Heatley resident James Merkel, who has lived in Townsville for six years, says the situation has reached the point where supermarkets may have to intervene and install systems that encourage people to return trolleys.
“They’re everywhere,” said Mr Merkel, who also has a property in Garbutt. “The frustrating thing is that it’s one of those things that can be easily controlled, but in Townsville it’s not.
“The supermarkets don’t consider Townsville to be a metropolitan area – that’s why we don’t have things like coin locking devices or bollards to keep the trolleys within the centres.”
Born and raised in Melbourne, Mr Merkel has also lived in Toowoomba and said Townsville was the first place he had seen that had a major issue with abandoned shopping trolleys.
He said he had contacted the Environmental Protection Agency, which wrote a letter to Woolworths on his behalf after having little feedback from the supermarket giant, and also Townsville City Council.
A Woolworths spokesman told the Townsville Bulletin that the supermarket giant was working to remove abandoned trolleys from residential areas.
“We understand abandoned trolleys can be a nuisance and that’s why we invest millions in collection services to help mitigate their impact in the community,” the spokesman said.
“We work closely with dedicated collection contractors who respond quickly to reports of abandoned trolleys to return them to our stores within 24 hours.
“They also conduct regular sweeps for abandoned trolleys in the streets surrounding our stores.”
A spokesperson said council had received six complaints relating to abandoned trolleys in the past 12 months.
“Retailers are responsible for the shopping trolleys they provide for customers,” the spokesperson said.
“Members of the public should report abandoned trolleys to the Trolley Tracker website – trolleytracker.com.au – or to their local retailer directly.”