Above Watch: As Montrealers replace their winter tires with summer ones, residents in Lachine are facing an unsightly problem: thousands of tires have been left at an impromptu dump site off No tre-Dame Ouest, just beneath the Mercier on-ramp. Billy Shields reports.
LACHINE– A “mountain” of tires that appeared seemingly overnight has cramped businesses and angered residents.
“You can just recycle the tires somewhere else,” said retiree Gilles Rondeau, who was walking near the site.
“It makes no sense.”
Over the past few months, people have been dumping their tires off Notre-Dame West under the overpass to the Mercier Bridge.
RecyQuebec had been picking the tires up periodically, but due to the change in weather, the accumulated mass of black rubber started to block access to neighbouring businesses.
The site is land owned by Parks Canada, which declined to renew a lease made to an Autopneu franchise.
According to Lachine spokesperson Serge Simard, the franchise, Pneu et Bois St-Pierre, continued to operate after its lease expired.
The former owner of the business, Richard Dupras, told Global News in a phone interview that problems started two years ago.
Simard said he wishes people who dumped the tires were more aware, but conceded the business’ closure was sudden.
“We don’t have any environmental concerns.”
Parks Canada did not immediately return comment requests.
Comments