Airlie Beach is usually known as a picturesque holiday destination but in recent times dumped supermarket trolleys are causing our usually immaculate streetscapes, waterways and boardwalks to be littered with an unnecessary eyesore.
A local resident named Josh said that when he walked home one evening from the town centre to Port of Airlie, he came across 21 abandoned trolleys in a 600-metre walk.
“It’s a big problem in Airlie Beach right now and whenever you go out you see them everywhere,” he said.
“Of course, it starts with the people but it has been proved that people can’t be trusted so I believe it is up to Woolworths and Coles to take responsibility.”
It appears that many of the culprits are local yachties who take shopping trolleys down to their vessel then simply leave them in the bushes assuming the supermarket will eventually retrieve them.
In the meantime, they are left to become an eyesore.
A Woolworths spokesperson said that Trolleys are provided for the convenience of their customers and the vast majority do the right thing in returning them.
“We understand abandoned trolleys can be a nuisance and that's why we invest millions in collection services to help mitigate their impact in the community,” they said.
“We work closely with dedicated collection contractors who respond quickly to reports of abandoned trolleys to return them to our stores. They also conduct regular sweeps for abandoned trolleys in the streets surrounding our stores.”
Whitsunday Regional Council Director of Infrastructure Service Adam Hagy confirmed that shopping trolleys are owned by and are solely the responsibility of the respective supermarket chains and not the core business of Council’s Parks and Gardens teams.
“All bbq areas are also cleaned 5 days per week, park furniture maintained and litter picked up to ensure these areas are tidy,” Mr Hagy said.
“It would be unfair to burden the ratepayer with increased costs for employing extra staff to collect shopping trolleys for the supermarket chains.
If you see an abandoned trolley you can a free phone Trolley Tracker on 1800 641 497 or download the App “Report a Trolley” (RAT) to alert the supermarket chains to missing trolleys.
Caption:
An abandoned trolley in one of our local waterways
Josh once found 15 trolleys left at a taxi rank
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