Toronto residents looking to throw their trash out at a city-run transfer station were kept waiting about five hours as municipal workers blocked the entranceway in support of a nearly three-week old civic strike.
Picketers outside the Ingram transfer station allowed one car to unload just three bags of garbage every 15 minutes. At around noon, the lineup of cars was about 20 cars deep, forcing those at the end of the line to wait hours for their turn.
One man told CTV Toronto at noon that he had been waiting since 7:30 a.m.
"That's a very long time," said the elderly gentleman. "I don't understand. This is Canada and there is garbage on every street."
Although residents are welcome to throw their trash in more than a dozen temporary dump sites set up by the city as a result of the strike, many have refused to do so.
The temporary sites have been set up in neighbourhood parks throughout the city and many say they refuse to throw their garbage in their own backyard. However, the long lineups at the transfer stations are forcing people to think twice.
"My first choice for the past three weeks has been here but you know what, I'm not going to wait five hours to dump three bags of garbage because of their fight," Lucy Sistilli, a frustrated resident told CTV Toronto on Saturday.
The civic strike, which involves both inside and outside municipal workers, has also affected daycare, summer camps, swimming pools, municipal licensing services and other city services.
