Supermarkets in small towns will be under pressure to keep their shopping trolleys in check thanks to new legislation passed in November this year.

While the scale of the problem in western towns is small compared to cities, the new laws will put the onus on businesses to retrieve abandoned shopping trolleys from public spaces, or risk facing a fine of over $13,000. 

Tactics to reduce the amount of shopping trolleys seen stolen and abandoned in Australian streets are no new phenomenon, from locks requiring coins to ‘geofencing’ that locks the trolley wheels at a certain distance from the shop it came from. 

Still, the Australian habit continues, with trolleys littering communities across the country. 

The new Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Act 2021 introduces a new approach to the issue, where business owners will be held responsible for removing the trolleys from public spaces.

Local Government NSW (LGNSW) President Linda Scott said the law is a significant improvement over the nearly 30-year-old Impounding Act 1993.

The new legislation would put a three-hour collection time limit on trolleys, vehicles or other items causing a safety hazard, and a seven-day limit for others. Fines ranging from $660 to $13,750 would be applied depending on the nature, number and the time the items remained. 

Manager of Bourke Supa IGA Rama-Waheed Khan said that stolen and abandoned shopping trolleys is an expensive issue that the shop faces. 

“We replace the shopping trolleys every year with about 30 new ones. Each trolley costs around $250,” Mr Khan said. 

The added expense of fines, according to Mr Khan, would pose a huge loss to the business. In some scenarios, retrieving their stolen trolleys isn’t an option, reporting that they’ve been set on fire and left in the street more than once. 

*Burning shopping trolleys has been an issue in towns like Bourke.

“A lot of people set them burning in their backyard, and we can’t get access to their house. If they leave them in the street that’s ok, but a lot of people take them home and don’t care,” Mr Khan said. 

The only security measures in place to prevent the trolleys from being taken further than the parking lot are the watchful eyes of staff, who can’t be relied on indefinitely when other duties beckon. 

The purpose of returning the onus to business owners is to remove the streets and waterways of the eyesore most effectively, and potentially see a better retention of trolleys from businesses. However, there is no accountability for the perpetrators, and no added preventative measures.

“Right now the community is spending more than $17 million each year recovering these trolleys; the new cost-recovery components in the legislation means councils alone will be able to claw back almost $10 million of this cost,” Ms Scott said. 

The legislation extends beyond trolleys and businesses to anyone leaving property in public spaces, handing more power to police authority. 

“Officers will now be able to enter an abandoned motor vehicle to identify its owners, and then charge that individual fees for recovery and possible storage of that item,” Ms Scott said.

The Bill was passed in Parliament recently, and will repeal the Impounding Act 1993.