Glenorchy City Council in Hobart’s North is tacking action to tackle the problem of abandoned shopping trolleys outside of designated shopping zones, announcing they will start collecting trolleys and imposing a $100 fee each on supermarkets.
In just a few hours, the council managed to collect 70 abandoned trolleys from various locations around the municipality.
Alderman Russell Yaxley explained that the impounded trolleys are then handed over to the supermarkets for retrieval, albeit at a cost.
“We’ve begun collecting trolleys now and enforcing that now, potentially if we can change the behavior and see the trolley picked up in a timely manner,” said Alderman Yaxley.
The council hopes that by taking such measures, they can eliminate the need for ongoing enforcement.
They say the imposition of fees on supermarkets is aimed at ensuring that ‘the cost of dealing with abandoned trolleys does not burden ratepayers’.