Dumping on trolley dumpers

The Gold Coast Bulletin had a little column piece in last Saturday's paper about trolley dumpage.



It's great to see that there is a recognition that this is a serious environmental problem.

Large shopping centres that serve a sizable population within walking distance will always experience this problem, unless those shops providing the trolleys have some locking system, dumpage and theft are going to be prevalent.

It would be nice if shopping centre management agencies would introduce them as part of their environmental commitment but if they won't, perhaps it is time for legislators to step in.

Trolley Dump 2

The good news:

18,000-plus people took part in the annual Gold Coast Marathon at the weekend.

The bad news: They all have to run past this:



Again a stray trolley adding to the actual and visual pollution.

And it's Wednesday and the the trolley is still there.

If there's anything good to come out of that at all is at least the trolley is being used as a bin...

Trolleys Not In The OK Corrall

Welcome to Surfers Paradise.

It's supposed to be the jewel in the crown of Gold Coast tourism but has recent copped criticism in the press over being a bit of a dump.

My husband and I like Surfers Paradise. We live nearby and like to go cycling during the weekends.

This time we remembered to bring a camera to record the number of dumped trolleys in the holiday precinct.

All the photographs in this post were taken Sunday, 22nd of June.

The above picture is not a nice introduction to the place is it?

But look! What do we have across the road from this trolley?

Two more trolleys dumped on disused building site.

There are two supermarkets within a two kilometre radius of this site and it doesn't take much to put the trolley back where you got it from. The only excuse I can find is ignorance and laziness.

And now, just a kilometre away from Chevron Island (where the above pictures were taken), on the eastern side of the Nerang River, we have this forlorn looking little model:



If that's not bad enough, this trolley was dumped in a park virtually across the road from the Coles Supermarket at the Chevron Renaissance shopping centre.

But I've saved the best (or should that be 'the worst') until last.

Where as these other shopping trolleys might eventually be wrangled back to their corral (by trailers towed by tractors or cars, causing pollution and CO2 emissions and that's another story), this trolley below (photo taken at the Broadwater in Southport) is in serious danger of turning into a hazard not only for people but also marine life.

Just take a look at how quickly the sand is beginning bury it.

Just remember, these pictures were taken from one suburb on one day.

One simple modification to the existing trolleys would fix this: All trolleys can be retrofitted to have a fix coin deposit locking systems.

One simple act of parliament of council bylaw could make this a reality.

If you agree, let me know by leaving a message in the comments below and then let your local councillor or state politician know that we want to do something about this problem

Welcome To My Trolley Hell

If there is one environmental issue that really gets my goat it's abandoned shopping trolleys.

It's the height laziness. For crying out loud, when you've unloaded your groceries, put the trolley back. It's not that hard and you might get some exercise along the way.

So why has this issue got me steamed?

1. I'm sick of having dents on my car doors from careless people leaving trolleys to roll down hill.
2. I'm sick of trolleys being dumped in my local creek by environmental vandals who've probably used the trolley to transport their ill-gotten haul as a result of their shop lifting and house breaking
3. I'm sick of trolleys being abandoned on the foot path hundred of metres away from the nearest shops by people who are too lazy to buy their own little portable trolley.
4. I'm sure doctors are sick of seeing injuries on kids who have decided to use the trolley as a billy kart or skateboard stunt accessory.

Solving this problem is so easy - lock the trolleys up!

It's can't be that difficult.

Aldis does it, Ikea does it and I've been told that some councils in Sydney and Melbourne have made it mandatory for ALL supermarkets to provide token lock shopping trolleys.

So, why should we do this?:

1. Reduce visual pollution of dumped trolleys
2. Reduce pollution caused by rusting trolleys in creeks and waterways
3. Reduce incidence of vehicle damage caused by runaway trolleys
4. Reduce injury to people who are accidentally hit by trolleys or who are injured by misusing trolleys
5. Reduce the number of vehicle movements required to pick up trolleys from around car parks and surrounding streets.

Please join me in my quest to make the streets a nicer, safer place and make the world a little more environmentally friendly.