Wawa’s New Landfill Site?

Has the former Davidson fuels location become the new Wawa landfill site?

When the Algoma Ore Division closed its doors, the rail line at the end of Government Road was torn up and created a beautiful trail for family walks, pet walking to ATV enthusiasts. A few years later, Davidson Fuels relocated its fuel operations and offices to Pinewood Drive leaving a big empty site. This became a great area to park close to the old rail line for easy access.

However, in the past year or two, it has slowly become a landfill site. People are dumping their garbage there. Even the old rail line is being used as a dump. Old fridges, construction materials, even a couple of old automobiles have been dumped over the banks. But the most visible and easy to access is the old bulk fuels site. This is an unfair burden that is placed on the landowner by these disrespectful dumpers – at the end of the day, the landowner is the one responsible to maintain property standards and clean their property.

This problem is not just inside the Wawa townsite. It’s all around. A few days ago there was a post on Facebook by the Wawa Sno-Riders that someone had been dumping garbage on the snowmobile trails.

It shows just the lack of respect residents of Wawa show for private property and the environment. This is not tourists, not our American visitors – the border was closed for nearly a year – and the stuff keeps appearing.

I get it dumping fees are expensive… That is something that needs to be addressed with our municipal government. Maybe a delegation or even a petition to ask for a couple of free dumping days a month. Perhaps lower rates on a certain day might help to keep the garbage where it belongs.

Residents could take action and report dumpers… Most everyone has a cellphone – take a picture of suspicious vehicles laden with garbage headed into the bush. Seriously, that fridge, laying on it’s side, headed into the bush – is not coming back. It’s headed to rot and rust away.

At the end of the day, this is unacceptable behaviour. What are we teaching our children? Who is going to clean the garbage left behind by these careless people?

Luc Berthiaume
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One comment

  1. name withheld by editor

    The dumping is getting bad, see vehicles going down with loads of garbage and leaving empty all the time. But when we have contacted the authorities, even with full descriptions and license plate numbers, we are told “it’s not our responsibility to do anything about it” so we have stopped reporting. Hopefully, someone eventually will do something about it.