The city’s growing trolley folly

STRAY shopping trolleys spread far and wide have become so ubiquitous in Ballarat they have become the official symbol of a local meme page.

Curator of The Other Ballarat account on Instagram said the page receives so many photos of the problem carts that it’s literally become a beloved joke.

“In a carefully curated social media world, shopping trolleys have become a symbol of realness, of evidence of flawed humanity amongst the sunset scenes that pervade our timelines,” they said. “People are definitely starting to view them with affection and humour.”

But all jokes aside, the issue of shopping trolleys spread throughout the city can also present a problem.

A spokesperson for Coles said abandoned trolleys are a “nuisance” to any community.

“Coles provides trolleys to its customers for their convenience and spends a significant amount on maintaining them each year, some of which is the cost of collecting trolleys that have been removed from our premises,” the spokesperson said.

“We are actively working to make this better across the Ballarat area, including weekly collections of abandoned trolleys… and maintaining wheel lock systems and coin locks to discourage trolleys being removed from our premises.”

Since 2017, the abandoning of trolleys on roads or municipality-owned land has been prohibited under local law 37 which remained in place during the pandemic.

Last year, the municipality responded to nearly 700 local law complaints which included abandoned trolley pickups.

With abandoned trolleys a constant issue, there are many ways that people can report them.

The City of Ballarat utilises the Snap, Send, Solve app alongside online forms and calls to the customer service team to handle reports.

Coles, Dan Murphy’s and Woolworths outlets have partnered with the Trolley Tracker service in assisting with reporting.

Trolley Services Australia director Chris Ford said their number of reports dropped off significantly during lockdowns, and that their current numbers exceed pre-pandemic levels.

“I think that’s not necessarily because there’s more trolleys out there, but we have a new version of our app in operation… which is easier to use,” he said.

“The proportion of people reporting with our app has definitely increased. The collection standards, we would hope, have tightened up as a result.”

Mr Ford said the onus of stray trolleys should be on the person leaving it rather than councils or stores.

“Retailers give the trolley to you for a short period to help transport your goods. Your part of the deal is to take it back,” he said.

“Most people do, but there’s that small proportion of people who don’t. After a quick period, they can end up in stormwater drains, parks, bushlands.

“They can be quite an environmental menace.”

According to a Woolworths spokesperson, the chain “[invests] millions” into trolley collection.

“We work closely with dedicated collection contractors who respond quickly to reports of abandoned trolleys to return them to our stores,” the spokesperson said.

“They also conduct regular sweeps… in the streets surrounding our stores.

“These efforts not only help preserve local amenity, but also ensure we have enough trolleys available for our customers.”

When asked for comment, ALDI declined to offer a representative and to divulge the number of collected trolleys in the area.