Trams dumped on the street or in ports have sparked a fierce debate over who should take responsibility for keeping the community clean.
A Facebook user living in the Whitsundays, North Queensland, took to the social media platform to express his frustration with supermarket giant Woolworths.
He asked when the supermarket chain was going to take responsibility or be held accountable for the shoppers who brought out the carts and “littered” the city and port of Airlie, walking and seeing seven carts dumped in the water.
“Go to any city and they have geo-blocks, which means the wheels lock as soon as they pass an imaginary line, which means people can’t take them outside the certain area of the supermarket. Please someone do something,” she pleaded.
Images showed cars dumped along highways, with some even pushed onto the marina’s waterline.
Other commenters revealed that they had seen the same thing and were equally frustrated, but all were divided on who to blame and where the responsibility lay for picking up the carts.
Many agreed with the man, with some blaming downsizing for the problem.
One person said: “Woolworths Airlie no longer has a designated person for the tram, staff have to do it during their shift.”
Another added: “Should put magnetic locks outside Woolworths like they have in Alice Springs.”
One man blamed the tourists, the Woolies and the council in a blanket comment.
“Councils should have an ordinance inspector to collect the carts and fine the Woolworths. It’s not the locals either, it’s the dirty boatmen and lazy tourists, who have no respect for the local community and the environment,” he wrote.
“Wake up, Whitsunday council do something out of the ordinary.
“Note: Those cars in the Port of Airlie have been yours for the last 18 months, it is now the POA’s responsibility to maintain that marina.”
However, most of those who spoke said that the problem was with the people using the carts.
“Awfully lazy of people not returning carts,” one user commented on the thread.
“Maybe the marina could have a trolley bay area for those boats that don’t have cars to drop off their cars? So at least all those carts are easier for the Woolies staff to pick up.”
Another said: “Why can’t people be responsible for their own actions? Woolies don’t get them kicked out.
“They use them to carry their luggage to the transit center at some point a dozen there. They take them to the taxi stand and leave them there. Woolies did not. Individuals did it.”
One person added: “What should woolies do? Put all your cars on a leash? When will human beings stop being lazy, vandalistic and destructive, is my question?”
The original post admitted that people were the problem, but argued that Woolworths still had a responsibility to collect and order the trolleys.
Woolworths has responded to customer outrage.
“The trolleys are provided for the convenience of our customers and the vast majority do the right thing by returning them,” a spokesperson told news.com.au.
“We understand that abandoned carts can be a nuisance, which is why we invest millions in collection services to help mitigate their impact on the community.
“We work closely with dedicated collection contractors who respond quickly to abandoned cart reports to return them to our stores. They also conduct regular sweeps of abandoned carts on the streets surrounding our stores.
“These efforts not only help preserve local conveniences, but also ensure that we have enough carts available for our customers in our stores.”
News.com.au understands that Woolworths partners with Trolley Tracker, which is a service that allows members of the public to report abandoned trolleys via a free phone call (1800 641 497) or online so that trolleys can be removed. of the area on time. Fashion.
It comes after an image published in April by columnist Samantha X of a Coles car lying in the middle of a parking spot in an underground garage.
“The world is divided into. people who pull their carts like that. And the rest of us,” Samantha X captioned the post.
A Coles spokesperson said at the time that they understood that abandoned carts were a nuisance and did everything they could to eliminate them.
A survey by news.com.au after that incident showed that most people returned their cart.
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