Abandoned supermarket trolleys spark debate over responsibility

A PENTHOUSE balcony brimming with shopping trolleys like they’re collector’s editions, has sparked online debate about what happens when they go feral and are loose in the wild (streets). Who is responsible for returning them and why the sudden increase in AWOL trolleys?

Alone, afraid, and vulnerable, this shopping trolley has wandered away from the herd and is at risk of attack.

• Man’s body pulled from Parramatta River
• Road authority defends intersection changes

AN EPPING penthouse balcony brimming with shopping trolleys has sparked online debate over determining who is responsible for taking them back to the store.

Some blame the banning of free plastic bags at supermarkets for the increased unreturned trolleys.

The introduction of coin- and wheel-locking has done little to stop shoppers from disappearing with the four-wheeled creations.

“This trolley issue is becoming as bad as the dumped bikes,” one resident said.

A Cliff Rd, Epping resident has been collecting trolleys. Perhaps for an installation art project.

While another resident said they hate seeing people walk off with trolleys.

“They weren’t designed to be used on anything but a smooth surface so when they are collected and returned they’ve turned to s**t and don’t work properly. So when you push around a trolley that’s constantly going sideways or is a pain to push, remember it’s caused by some jack*** walking off with it.”

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN A BAD PART OF TOWN

A Coles spokeswoman said trolley abandonment was an inconvenience to customers and the communities they operate in.

“We are doing a significant amount of work to minimise this,” she said.

“We have regular collections of abandoned trolleys in the areas around our stores and Coles Epping has coin-operated locks on trolleys to encourage customers to return them.”

Trolley Tracker managing director Chris Ford likes to keep his friends close and his trolleys closer.

Trolley Tracker, a business created by Chris Ford more than two decades ago, helps track trolleys that haven’t found their way back to stores.

He said if there was a silver bullet, “you could be damn sure the retailers would use it”.

“It costs millions of dollars a year to replace, collect and maintain them,” he said.

“The more they’re out in the streets, the greater chance of them going feral and ending up in drains and parks. It also means they’re not in the store for other people to use.”

Easily startled, shopping trolleys will then huddle in a mob to deter predation. Picture: Adam Ward

Mr Ford said the issue of wayward trolleys was a personal responsibility. Since starting the business over 20 years ago, he’s had more than 2.7 million reports of abandoned trolleys across Australia.

One trolley was found in Cairns and it had travelled from Lismore in northern NSW. Another from Port Augusta ended up in a tiny little station in the middle of The Nullarbor Plain.

Residents on the North Epping Facebook group said they saw a Big W trolley in Woodridge Ave, North Epping last week.

A funny, yet genius solution for getting all that shopping on your bike - a converted trolley bike . pic.twitter.com/QRtMnEfSvv

— Raine (@SustainableIDUK) May 15, 2018

“Mind boggling how far someone must have pushed that to get it home,” they said.

Another resident said while returning 10 cent containers at Marsfield Woolworths last week they saw a Macquarie Centre Coles trolley.

“When you take a trolley, the retailer allows you to get your goods to your car, home or bus stop but your part of the deal is to take the trolley back,” Mr Ford said.

“Most people put them in the trolley bay but there are a small proportion of people who don’t.

Shopping trolleys are happiest in their natural habitat, roaming the aisles and grazing randomly from the shelves.

“We’ve made littering socially unacceptable, we should also make it (taking trolleys) socially unacceptable.”

Mr Ford said customers think trolleys are a community asset that can be “used and abused in any way they like” and they hate restrictions like perimeter locks and coin locks on them.

The average trolley costs about $150 to buy.

He said there weren’t many places in the world where you can buy $1.50 worth of potatoes and leave with a $150 asset.

IN OTHER NEWS

Mr Ford said a collector doesn’t have the authority to go onto private properties to collect trolleys but body corporate could play a bigger role in reporting them and making them accessible.

A Woolworths spokeswoman said most customers do the right thing but they’ve partnered up with Trolley Tracker and they also have contractors doing regular patrols of local streets around their supermarkets.

Report wayward Coles trolleys to 1800 876 553 and for Woolworths, Big W and Dan Murphy’s, a few IGA stores and Ikea’s Tempe store, contact Trolley Tracker.