West Ward Councillor Henry Meskauskas’ campaign to have feral shopping trolleys across the city confiscated and impounded has finally gained momentum following acknowledgement from Maitland City Council that supermarkets are now on notice.
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Council’s General Manager David Evans confirmed council will advise supermarket and store operators of their responsibilities in relation to trolleys and alert them to a blitz council is about to initiate.
Cr Meskauskas has spent years lobbying council to do something about the trolley situation – an eyesore across the city, he said. He raised the issue again last week after reading how Hornsby Council recently impounded 450 trolleys.
And to give his campaign even more weight, NSW Labor has unveiled a policy that could see retailers fined up to $2750 for not collecting abandoned trolleys.
Cr Meskauskas said council plans to approach supermarket/store operators advising of their responsibilities in relation to trolleys, and that council will carry out an impounding blitz if things don’t improve.
Mr Evans said this approach was effective when council last approached retailers and improved for some time. “We will however proceed with impounding if we don’t see improvement,” Mr Evans said.
Dumped trolleys come from a range of stores and supermarkets including Woolworths. A spokesperson for the company said most customers do the right thing returning trolleys.
“We know abandoned trolleys can be a nuisance and that's why we invest millions in collection services,” the spokesperson said. “We work closely with contractors who respond quickly to reports of abandoned trolleys and return them to our stores within 24 hours. They also conduct regular sweeps in streets surrounding our stores.”
The Maitland news comes after NSW Labor said it would crack down on abandoned shopping trolleys across NSW if successful at the March election.
Shadow Roads, Maritime and Freight Minister Jodi McKay said Labor would empower councils to impound trolleys. It would also put the onus back on trolley owners and require supermarkets to remove trolleys causing a safety risk within three hours of being notified. If the owner fails to do so they will be deemed to have broken the Impounding Act and face a maximum penalty of between $550 and $2750.