In a breakfast celebrating Ipswich’s 150th anniversary, Premier Anna Bligh referred to the “renaissance” of the Ipswich CBD, which has been recently re-developed.  The Premier was very upbeat about Ipswich’s capacity to maintain its own identity and industry base separate from Brisbane’s:

Bligh promises city bright future

But is the Premier aware of the risks to Ipswich’s future from abandoned shopping trolleys?  As reported in today’s Courier-Mail:

A CONSUMER backlash has forced grocery giant Woolworths to review its rollout of coin-lock shopping trolleys in some parts of Australia.

The voluntary program had been heralded as a powerful tool in the fight against trolleys being dumped in waterways, parks, on footpaths and in alley ways.

But Woolworths said strong negative feedback from customers had prompted it to discontinue their use in some locations, including Ipswich southwest of Brisbane.

Consumer backlash forces Woolworths to rollback coin-lock trolleys

Ipswich Councillor Paul Tully isn’t prepared to risk the Ipswich renaissance being spoiled by abandoned trolleys, however:

He called on shoppers to boycott Woolworths stores, saying its decision would lead to more pollution, clogged waterways and runaway trolleys.

“Woolworths obviously cares more about profits than protecting the Australian environment,” he said.

He said Woolworths may be forced to reintroduce the system in Ipswich, with plans to amend local laws to force all major supermarkets to have coin-locks on trolleys.

Good on him.  To the extent, Woolworths’s negligence regarding its trolleys is imposing a cost on the community, the community has a right to demand action, and, if Woolworths doesn’t prevent abandoned trolleys through coin-locks, then it should pay a contribution to the community to clean up the abandoned trolleys.  How about some corporate social responsibility?