Hume council is cracking down on trolley dumping by seeking to bring back trolley impounding, fining responsible retailers and make trolley dumping illegal.
At Monday night’s council. councillor Sam Misho said the council’s previous initiatives were not strict enough to stop trolley dumping.
“The retailers didn’t take it seriously… we still continue to have problems,” he said.
“These trolleys are unsightly, they cause risks, safety concerns and environmental issues.”
Cr Misho’s proposal to make trolley dumping illegal, fine retailers and impound abandoned trolleys was endorsed at the 9 February council meeting.
The council will adopt the changes in the council’s 2026-27 budget.
“If you have an unregistered car on your street, that’s a breach and you get fined… but those billion dollar retailers, we don’t fine them and we don’t recover costs.
“We collect 11,400 [dumped] items per year.. illegal dumping has been a topic that we’ve talked about for decades.
“It is time to act… and make [trolley dumping] a breach of local law.”
Fines received for trolley dumping will remunerate the $15,000 to $25,000 cost of amending local law, according to the officers report.
Fees imposed on retailers are also predicted to offset the $205,000 annual cost of monitoring and impounding dumped trolleys.
Cr Misho said these penalties will incentivise retailers to implement trolley locking systems that council is trying to enforce.
“They will invest in technology that ensures the trolleys remain within their boundaries.
“I guarantee you within two years, we won’t have these trolleys on our streets.”
Councillor Naim Kurt said they need to mandate that every supermarket within Hume has to have a perimeter fencing system.
“That way when you leave the car park, your shopping trolley locks up and you can’t take it any further,” he said.
“Without that issue we’re not going to have trolleys ending up in the creeks…. or by the side of the road.”
Cr Kurt supported the trolley impound program, and said it would be a powerful deterrent.
“I’m very happy to collect the trolleys… and have a ceremonial crushing… to show those supermarkets that we mean business.”
