8 years after town dump closed, piles of trash remain

People in Lower Island Cove say the province has left a mess in their community for too long.

The town dump has been closed for eight years, but nothing has been done to clean up or contain the mountain of trash.

Residents say the problem is getting worse.

Paul Lewis was the volunteer in charge of the community dump before it was shut down by government in 2007, as part of the provincial waste management strategy.

• Everything and the bathroom sink: Illegal dumping too close to home for Springdale man
• New dump 'exceeding expectations' despite complaints about tipping fees

"We've been in contact with the Department of Environment for some weeks after that, trying to see what they were going to do about cleaning the site up," Lewis said.

"Anyway, they got back to us and then they said all the sites were supposed to be cleaned up within a year. So that was eight years ago."

The old dump is down a dirt road in Lower Island Cove, which is south of Old Perlican, near the northernmost tip of the Avalon Peninsula.

The dump is not visible from within the community but when you get there, there's trash piled up as far as the eye can see — mountains of household waste, appliances and hazardous material.

It was in operation for 40 years. The pit of trash is as deep as a large swimming pool — and it's growing.

Lewis said people are using the site to dump trash illegally.

"Other similar sites in the region, they came out and they cleaned it up," he said.

"From Carbonear down, all the sites were put back into [their] original shape. But this one is still ongoing."

Legal issues to be resolved 

The province says someone in the community is claiming ownership of the land, but when contacted by CBC News, the person said they also want the site cleaned up.

Nevertheless, government said the questions around ownership create legal liabilities that need to be resolved before a clean-up can happen.

Government also attributes the delay in Lower Island Cove to the amount of work that needed to be done elsewhere — other sites closed and cleaned up, and other regional facilities opened.

The waste management strategy is ongoing until 2025, and the province said this and all other outstanding issues will be resolved before then.

But Lewis said people in Lower Island Cove are fed up living next door to the region's last open garbage pit.