Three more temporary garbage dumps are closing Wednesday night and three more will open Thursday morning, as Toronto experiences a fourth week without curbside trash collection, day care, recreation programs, pools, building permits and ferry service.
The new drop-off points for residential waste will be located in Clairlea Park at Warden and St. Clair Avenues, Campbell Park at Landsdowne Avenue and Dupont Street, and L’Amoureux Park at Birchmount Road and Finch Avenue.
Those closing are at Earlscourt Park, Wishing Well Park and Ted Reeve Arena. The city will not be removing the piles of garbage left behind.
The inevitable announcement brings to 24 the number of dispersed dump sites that have been established, mainly in parks during the strike, which coincidentally is in Day 24 of the work stoppage.
Only 19 are still collecting double-bagged household garbage. Five are full. All are being monitored for public health issues and sprayed routinely with pesticides to prevent vermin.
But more dump sites in park could open next week if the strike by 30,000 Toronto civic workers isn’t solved by then, hinted city manager Joe Pennachetti.
“With these changes we will not need to open any additional temporary sites until the end of next week,” he said. “Temporary sites do not post a health risk if they are well-managed, as they have been.”
So far 328 fines have been handed out for illegal dumping while 6,800 warnings have been issued.
Geoff Rathbone, the general manager of solid waste, explained the sites are chosen from a list developed during contingency planning, based on their proximity to roadways to facilitate drop off and the availability of paved areas to keep pesticide and rotting trash from leeching into the ground. But there is no minimum distance from houses that has been established.
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