Cumberland Council cracks down on trolley dumping

A total of 550 trolleys were impounded across western Sydney during a one-day roundup of abandoned carts.

Councils want the State Government to help them crack down on abandoned trolleys. Picture: Carmela Roche

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Tougher laws need to be enforced to tackle the number of abandoned trolleys littering western Sydney streets, Local Government NSW president Linda Scott said.

The call comes in the same week Cumberland Council joined a coalition of councils led by Liverpool in a one-day trolley roundup to raise awareness of the issue and underline the need for new regulations.

On the day, 28 abandoned trolleys were collected in Merrylands CBD and

12 were pulled up from the Pemulwuy pond.

This is on top of the 43 that were collected over the past 1 ½ weeks across Cumberland, where an average of 50 trolleys are impounded each week.

Auburn is another trolley dumping black spot.

An average 50 trolleys are impounded across Cumberland each week.

Cumberland Mayor Steve Christou called for the government to help deal with retailers ignoring the issue.

“It’s time for the State Government to come to the table and help us deal with this issue if retailers won’t fulfil their obligations for trolley collection,’’ he said.

“Trolleys dumped on a nature strip or on public land are just an eyesore and this shouldn’t be a problem for us.’’

Fairfield Council was also involved in the muster. Picture: Carmela Roche

Fairfield and Penrith councils also joined the crackdown effort which Cr Scott, who serves on Sydney City Council, said followed a similar event in June when more than 450 trolleys were impounded.

She said the LGNSW continued to call on the government to introduce tougher laws to allow councils to impound trolleys and charge punitive fees to owners of abandoned trolleys.

“If history is any indication, the unfortunate outcome of this week’s crackdown will be that most trolley owners won’t even collect the impounded trolleys because there’s no incentive for them to take ownership of the problem,’’ she said.

Cumberland councillor Eddy Sarkis and Steve Christou at trolleys dumped on the bridge over Pemulwuy pond.

“Councils are virtually powerless because they can only fine customers who are caught abandoning trolleys in public places, which is impractical and almost impossible to enforce.”

Councils reiterated previous LGNSW Annual Conference decisions to push the government to change the laws so shopping trolleys were recognised as property of the individual supermarkets, and abandoned trolleys defined as litter.

“That way, the owners would be forced to pay substantial fines,’’ Cr Scott said.

“Tougher measures have worked elsewhere, and they will work in NSW.”

In 2013, Queensland’s Ipswich City Council was able to introduce fines of up to $5500 for supermarkets with 20 or more trolleys that failed to install a wheel lock containment system that activated if their trolley left the shopping precinct.

“Today abandoned trolleys are a rare sight in Ipswich,’’ Cr Scott said.

“The NSW Government needs to make abandoned shopping trolleys the responsibility of the supermarkets that own them.

“In almost all cases trolleys clearly display the owner’s brand – all that’s needed to solve the problem are laws to empower councils to act.”

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