Old dump – new waste
O’Leary council approves more secure gate after continued illegal dumping
The Town of O’Leary has had enough of illegal dumping.
Town councillors have decided to put up a more secure gate at the entrance of a townowned property that used to serve as the O’Leary area community waste disposal site.
It ceased to be a disposal site 15 years ago, when the Island Waste Watch system was implemented Islandwide. That resulted in community disposal sites and nine container sites being replaced with three final disposal facilities.
Like the other community sites across the province, O’Leary’s site was levelled and closed.
Mayor Eric Gavin said contractors were permitted to haul old buildings in there, and the fire department then charged to burn them while incorporating the burns into training exercises.
This summer, however, Gavin said it got out of hand. He noted one councillor commented everything was hauled in there except the kitchen sink.
“And the kitchen sink was there, and bathtubs and everything else,” he noted. “They just started abusing it.” Coun. Joey Dumville said a heavy concrete barrier, meant to keep people out, was pushed out of the way.
Appliances, a couch and bags of garbage have been tossed in the pile.
With this year’s dry summer, Gavin said the fire department was not able to burn the stuff that council was permitting, and then things just got out of control.
“It’s unbelievable the stuff that’s in there,” he said, suggesting the town will likely have to rent a machine to sort the garbage and then pay to have it hauled to the Island Waste Watch site in Brockton.