The city of Toronto has unveiled the locations of the 19 sites where Torontonians will be able to temporarily bring their garbage while the municipal workers' strike continues into a fourth day.

City manager Joe Pennachetti said Thursday that the city studied more than 200 locations when trying to identify possible drop-off points.

Dr. David McKeown, the city's chief medical officer of health, said the temporary sites won't lead to health problems, although he conceded some might be offended by the odour.

The garbage will stay at those sites for the duration of the strike, officials said.

The new sites are:

  • Ted Reeve arena (Main St. and Gerrard St. E.)
  • Sir Casmir Gzowski park (West of Sunnyside, south of Lakeshore Blvd., must be eastbound to access)
  • Etienne Brule park (Old Mill Rd. at Catherine St.)
  • North Toronto memorial arena (enter off Edith Dr., north of Eglinton Ave., east of Oriole Pkwy.)
  • Caledonia Park, 1135 Caledonia Rd.
  • Scarborough arena, 75 Birchmount Rd.
  • Highland Creek wastewater treatment plant, 51 Beechgrove Dr.
  • Sunnyside Park (between Ellis Ave. and Colborne Lodge Dr.; must be eastbound to access)
  • George Bell arena, 215 Ryding Ave.
  • Moss Park (west of Sherbourne St., north of Queen St. E.)
  • Earlscourt Park (West side of Landsdowne Ave., north of Davenport Rd.)
  • Villiers St. (Between Saulter and Cherry Sts.)
  • Eglinton Flats (Enter off Eglinton Ave. east of Jane St.)
  • Eglinton Flats II (Enter off Emmett Ave. west of Jane St.)
  • Wishing Well park (North of Hwy. 401, west side of Pharmacy Ave.)
  • York Mills arena, 2539 Bayview Ave.
  • North York centennial arena, 580 Finch Ave. W.
  • Taylor Creek park (enter off Haldon Ave.)
  • Christie Pits (enter off Crawford St., north of Bloor)

Those sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days per week. There are seven existing sites, two of which are open 24 hours per day.

The city is taking some flak for choosing to collect household garbage in selected city parks for the foreseeable future, as a way of dealing with the trash that has started piling up during a four-day-old municipal strike.

Garbage workers have been on strike since Monday, causing refuse to pile up on city streets and in over-stuffed garbage cans.

A small group of Christie Pits residents talked to the media on Thursday morning about their opposition to the plan to put garbage in their park.

One of the protesters gave CTV Toronto several suggestions as to where else he thought the garbage could be stored, including the Portlands, the area under the Gardiner Expressway, as well as municipal parking lots.

Illegal dumping has also become a problem in the wake of the strike, with city officials confirming that dozens of residents have already been ticketed since Monday. The minimum fine is $380. The maximum fine is $10,000 for individuals and $50,000 for businesses.

On Wednesday, Mayor David Miller called on his online Twitter followers to help root out the illegal dumpers.

"Tweeters -- Let's get the message out to the small, inconsiderate group who are illegally dumping: It's our city, we are proud of it: STOP IT," Miller wrote on his Twitter page.

The strike began Monday at 12:01 a.m. when about 24,000 indoor and outdoor workers walked off the job.

The striking workers are fighting with the city over issues of job security, seniority, scheduling and sick-day benefits.

Aside from garbage services, city residents are also without summer camp, swimming pools and daycare services for the duration of the strike.

Other services affected by the strike include:

  • child-care centres
  • libraries located inside community centres
  • golf courses
  • the Toronto Island ferries
  • recreation centres
  • wedding services
  • city-run sexual health and dental clinics
  • restaurant inspections
  • city-run events in public squares and public parks

Public transit, police officers, fire services are not affected by the strike. Emergency calls for ambulance and paramedic services will continue as usual, the city says. However, non-emergency and low-priority calls might experience a delay.

Court services including parking ticket payments are still available to the public.

City officials have outlined their contingency plan on Toronto's official website Toronto.ca.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney