Residents of the inner-Melbourne suburb of Docklands are fed up with shoppers abandoning trolleys across their waterfront suburb.
When A Current Affair hit the streets of Docklands to get to the bottom of the mess, we caught three people ditching their carts on footpaths and outside apartments around lunchtime.
Local supermarket owner Sam Bombagi took aim at shoppers, describing it as “a shocking situation”.
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“I actually question them and they don’t really care,” Bombagi told A Current Affair.
“They don’t care about the dollar or two dollars so they just keep doing it.”
Bombagi doesn’t have trolleys at his small store, but said the answer was simple.
“I think the locking system is probably the best way, where the trolleys won’t move for more than 500 or 600 metres from the District Shopping Centre,” Bombagi said.
“That way it stops people using the trolleys all the way here.”
This isn’t the first time A Current Affair has reported on the Docklands trolley frustrations.
We visited the area in 2022 after locals made complaints, and more than two years later nothing has changed.
The two major supermarkets in the area are Costco and Woolworths, and while Costco refused to comment, Woolworths told A Current Affair it was investing millions into keeping trolleys off the streets.
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But residents of the harbourside Melbourne suburb say it’s not enough.
The City of Melbourne initially declined to comment on the issue, until we showed them recent complaints by residents.
They now claim to be looking into the matter and said those caught dumping could be fined up to $1150.
Council Watch’s Dean Hurlston said The City of Melbourne should be cashing in.
“If the supermarket companies aren’t picking them up, we expect council to enforce and do the job they’re paid for,” Hurlston said.
“Not to mention they actually make good money out of it.”
FULL MELBOURNE CITY COUNCIL STATEMENT
We’re aware of a growing number of complaints from the Docklands community about abandoned shopping trolleys.
As the owners of the trolleys, we urge supermarket operators to establish processes for retrieving these quickly.
We’ve met with supermarket operators in Docklands numerous times in the past to attempt to resolve this issue, and we encourage everyone to report abandoned trolleys to Trolley Tracker.
Our on-street compliance team are reviewing several recent complaints to assess if there are more reports recently, and will work with Trolley Tracker and supermarket operators to continue work to ensure the amenity of the precinct.
FULL WOOLWORTHS STATEMENT
Trolleys are provided for the convenience of our 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 and have additional measures in place which feature a locking mechanism to help mitigate their impact in the community.
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.
These efforts not only help preserve local amenity, but also ensure we have enough trolleys available for our customers in our stores.