Council makes novel bid to stop dumping of shopping trolleys

Councils are often declaring war on dumpers of shopping trolleys, which rangers find in parks, canals and streets across Sydney. Now one council has come up with a solution.

Liverpool City Council voted to investigate the possibility of subsidising personal “granny trolleys” – the type on two wheels with a canvas frame – for vulnerable residents in a bid to stop those who are unable to carry shopping bags home from taking and abandoning trolleys.

Hundreds of trolleys collected by Liverpool City Council staff in a crackdown on dumped trolleys.Credit: Liverpool City Council

“There are lots of people who can’t afford to get their shopping delivered, so they take a trolley,” deputy mayor Peter Harle said.

Harle hopes that subsidising personal trolleys and making them available to pensioners, people with limited mobility and those on low incomes will reduce the number of supermarket trolleys littering Liverpool.

Since February, Liverpool has taken the fight against the trashed trolleys to a new level, impounding nearly 1200 of the cage-like carriages and putting those that weren’t claimed by supermarkets through a shredder.

The unclaimed trolleys were destroyed by a machine usually used to break down old mattresses. The remains have been used for scrap metal.

The remains of trolleys shredded by Liverpool City Council. Credit: Liverpool City Council

The council struggles with current legislation that doesn’t allow rangers to immediately impound trolleys they find if there is clear branding. Instead, the council must contact the supermarket and wait three hours.

A blitz is planned for May, when the council will fine retailers up to $1320 per trolley found abandoned.

“The notification requirements are onerous and make the impounding process overly complicated,” Mayor Ned Mannoun said in February.

The proposal to investigate options to subsidise personal trolleys passed unanimously at a council meeting last Wednesday night. Harle said he planned to use funds from the environment levy to pay for as many as 500 of the trolleys.

Harle said he hoped the granny trolleys, which he would like to be sold for as little as $10, would reduce dumping by focusing on what residents need rather than punishing them.

Canterbury-Bankstown Council is using AI technology to identify and map dumped trolleys. Credit: Canterbury-Bankstown Council

“We’ve tried the stick approach, let’s now try the carrot approach,” he said.

The council has found the trolleys in drainage systems where they have caused blockages, and the sight of them on the side of the road acted as a magnet for more waste and illegal dumping, the council said.

Liverpool isn’t the only council area struggling to rid public places of dumped trolleys. Canterbury-Bankstown introduced a trial using AI technology and cameras mounted to street sweepers to identify abandoned trolleys.

The council uses data from the cameras to create a heatmap and to target areas of most concern. In the first few weeks of the trial, the cameras identified hundreds of trolleys each week.

Abandoned trolleys are one of NSW’s most complained about gripes. Data from Snap Send Solve previously reported by this masthead revealed it was the second-biggest issue for locals after parking, prompting 37,764 complaints in 2023.

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