Original story by Nicole Fuge, Sunshine Coast Daily
PETRIE Creek has become a “trolley graveyard” for almost 50 metal frames, rusting in the Nambour waterway.
Discarded shopping trolleys polluting waterways.
Fran McDiarmid lives beside Petrie Creek and was “appalled” at the pollution building up in and around the creek.
She counted at least 18items of hard rubbish, most being discarded shopping trolleys.
“That’s what’s on the surface, who knows what’s underneath,” she said.
“It was horrendous, if nothing’s done now it will build up and be a tsunami of trolleys.
“Petrie Creek was the original name for the now known town of Nambour.
“I am astonished that this living organic and iconic symbol, and an environmental site of history and culture, can be blatantly disregarded, and thus neglected, for so long.”
Petrie Creek Catchment Care Group president Norm Morwood said dumping shopping trolleys in the creek had been a problem for many years.
“Clearing them from the creek is a constant job and each year at Clean Up Australia Day.
“Many are found and removed,” he said.
“If left in the creek they cause serious pollution and are a danger to the wildlife.
“We urge those who put them there to return them to the supermarkets instead, and we urge Woolworths to install control systems on their trolleys to help overcome this problem.
“We understand that Aldi will install deposit-controlled shopping trolleys and that Coles will have an electronic control system.
“If this is so we thank them for their assistance in overcoming this problem.”
A Sunshine Coast Council spokesman said on Wednesday and Thursday last week, they retrieved 26 trolleys and identified about 20 more to be picked up.
The spokesman said that under local laws, a person could be issued a $220 on-the-spot fine for taking a shopping trolley from a shopping centre precinct or leaving a trolley outside the shopping centre precinct.
“The owner or occupier of a shop which provides shopping trolleys for customers must ensure that all shopping trolleys so provided remain in the shopping centre precinct,” he said.
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