Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek is fed up by abandoned shopping trolleys littering suburbs and is threatening to seize and destroy them.
The trolleys are posing safety concerns for pedestrians and motorists and are an unsightly scourge on our streets, in our parks and waterways.
In a scathing Mayoral Minute endorsed at last month’s Council Meeting, Council resolved to write to the CEOs of all major supermarkets in Canterbury-Bankstown, demanding an explanation on how they collect abandoned trolleys and what measures they are putting in place to stop this from occurring.
Mayor El-Hayek said there were more than 30 major retailers in our City and they should be held accountable.
“The major chains that are making billions of dollars in profits each year, yet they’ve put the handbrake on investing in more smart trolleys that they can track or immobilise trolleys when leaving the stores’ boundaries,” Mayor El-Hayek said.
“I’ve had enough and I’m exploring every possibility to seize dumped trolleys and recycle them.”
City of Canterbury Bankstown is trialling new AI technology when it comes to tackling the shopping cart crisis, by rolling out a series of side-mounted cameras on its fleet of street sweepers.
The cameras record images of abandoned trolleys into a database, which compiles a heatmap showing problem areas.
Initial results have proven highly successful, with the street sweepers detecting hundreds of abandoned trolleys a week. Some of the problem suburbs include Bankstown, Punchbowl, Lakemba and Campsie.
Mayor El-Hayek added the technology is revolutionising the way Council deals with this issue but needs the supermarket chains and the State Government to focus on implementing real solutions.
“I’ve also written to the Minister responsible to impose heavier fines and make it easier for councils to fine lax supermarkets.”
The AI technology was developed by Council, with help from an external AI vendor.