City Strike Means More Dumps in the Don

Cars queue up to unload garbage bags in Wilket Creek Park

As the civic workers' strike grinds into its second month, the garbage at temporary dumps is starting to pile higher and deeper (doesn't take a PhD to figure that out ;).

Already a few temporary dumps have filled up and have closed which means more have opened up to replace them. One of these is at Leslie and Eglinton on the West Don in Wilket Creek Park. Unfortunately for the Don, the conditions imposed on the city by the Ministry of the Environment on where temporary dumps can be sited means that many parking lots in the valley are ripe for the taking. Coupled with the fact that these places are relatively far from residential areas and are partially hidden by the ravine depth and surrounding trees make the Don an ideal place to unload our waste.

The Wilket Creek site is the second dump setup in the Don but if the strike goes on much longer it won't be the last. Other places that I can think of where the city could setup dumps are:

• Earl Bales Park
  
• Serena Gundy Park ( adjacent to Wilket Creek)
• Taylor Creek Park (at Dawes Road)
• Warden Woods (off Pharmacy Ave)
  
• Sunnybrook Park (two large parking lots)
  
• Milne Hollow (Lawrence Ave East at the DVP)
• G. Ross Lord Park

The Don Valley has had a long history of being a dumping ground for our waste. Before garbage pickup was taken over by Metro in the late 1960's, the Don was home to about 30 legal garbage dumps. They have all been closed but that garbage still remains. I won't get into the stuff that still ends up in the river today.

There have been a couple of high profile protests at neighbourhood parks but you are unlikely to see anything similar at park sites. Unless the trees decide to start walking and blocking roads, the Don (and other ravines) will be the unfortunate recipients of our garbage.