…Col. Sam Smith Park is mostly made from landfill

This beautiful naturalized park in Toronto (south Etobicoke) is a gem in the neighbourhood. I remember years ago  in the 1980s when dump trucks were lined up to unload their bins of landfill into Lake Ontario to expand the park.  As a result  an artificial harbour (now home to the Lakeshore Yacht Club) was created. It is skirted by grasslands punctuated by trees and set within the rocky shoreline. The lake-fill area also contains a wetlands habitat with wildlife-viewing platforms, while elsewhere among the tree-lined paths and lawns are playgrounds, pavilions, and a sport field.

This is one of the parks the Trish and I go to pick up litter. When you walk along the pathways you’d think the park is pretty clean but when you walk along the rocks you can see where people have partied and where the waves have deposited waste (mostly plastic) from the belly of the lake.

Here are some shots from the surface of the rocks and then what we’ve found between them.