We can still Love Our Street even when we are not allowed on them

By Janette Corcoran

We are now well used to reading the growing list of events cancelled due to COVID-19.

And, sadly, LOS3008 (Love Our Street Docklands) has a couple of events to add to this list.

The first is our regular community clean in Docklands and the second is a special event which was planned for May 2020.

This was our inaugural Vertical Village Waste Market – funded, in part, by the City of Melbourne (CoM) through its Waste Minimisation Innovation Grant program.

We had intended this column to be about the different displays that we had organised – a repair café, a toy library, and a wide range of schemes of actual use to residents living in high-rise apartments. And we had planned for the event to be held in Village St – becoming the first group to use this purpose-designed space for what is was intended – holding local events.

All is not lost, and we are currently working with CoM to see if we can hold this event at a later time – stayed tuned!

But in the meantime, the issue of litter in our streets continues – with COVID-19 having some unexpected impacts.

First, there are the strewn take away containers and coffee cups. As we are all well aware, serving take away food is now the life blood for many cafes and restaurants. But this in no way means that the packaging has to be left on the street!

The second noticeable impact is an increase in abandoned trolleys. A recent post on a Docklands Facebook page entreated people who had used these trolleys to, “Please return them … Docklands is littered with trolleys.”

While agreeing that these should not be treated like O-bikes, there is also, I believe, a responsibility on the part of the supermarket to implement ways to stop their trolleys being so used. Electronic locks, for example, are used in other locations and they work by automatically locking a wheel when a trolley is moved past a barrier sensor.

LOS3008 thanks all our members and the wider Docklands community for the great support shown for our clean-up work - and we will be back working together for a green and clean Docklands when conditions are right! •