Perth Voice Interactive

SHOPPING trolley dumping is out of control and supermarkets should be charged $500 for every one left out on public land longer than 48 hours, Stirling councillor Joe Ferrante reckons. 

He proposed an increase in fines to $500 at the May council meeting since the current $200 fine didn’t seem to be working: “Supermarkets are not doing enough to stop this environmental issue from littering our streets, parks and footpaths,” his motion said.

“Recently, I viewed in our local parks and main streets large numbers of dumped or discarded trolleys left for large periods of time. Trolleys left on footpaths can cause accessibility issues for our elderly.”

But council staff advised Cr Ferrante they had to wait until the state government completed upcoming reforms to the Local Government Act due to come into effect in late 2023. One of those changes is a new way to create standardised local laws, and then they’ll be able to wage their trolley war.

For now Stirling staff advised they’d keep an extra eye out for trolley dumping at hotspots like Dog Swamp Shopping Centre and Innaloo: “The city’s Community Safety Team can identify any retail shopping areas and public spaces where the abandonment of shopping trolleys is causing community concern and undertake targeted enforcement using provisions within the current local law.”

We passed through Dog Swamp Reserve this week and found five trolleys in the park, five more on surrounding verges, and eight others at the two adjacent bus stops. Those trolleys (mostly from Coles) aren’t location-locked, unlike the trolleys at nearby North Perth Plaza which have wheels that freeze if they detect they’re taken out of the carpark.

Bayswater council has also grappled with this trolley problem. In 2021 the council endorsed a motion by Cr Steven Ostaszewskyj to increase fines from $100 to $450 for anyone abandoning a trolley or a supermarket failing to retrieve their trolleys when advised.