Like flies to a dung pile, people looking to do the wrong thing with trash are drawn to places that already have been fouled by illegal dumping.

It could be the nice weather. Or maybe it’s the coughing sickness. But a viral infection of illegal dumping seems to have gripped the landscape this spring, and readers are feverish about it.

I’ve received several reports of illegal dumping in recent days, including along the Martin Goodman Trail, east of Cherry Street, on Albion Road and the dumbest one of the bunch, on Westlake Road.

Chris Churchill emailed to say he’s been looking for quiet streets with few pedestrians for his daily trudge to battle cabin fever brought on by relentless cowering at home.

“I went for a walk yesterday and ended up on Westlake to avoid people,” he said. “Sadly, I discovered that Westlake has become a dumping ground since it’s not on any garbage route.”

In one short stretch, Churchill saw three bags of household garbage, several pallets piled near a fence and a mattress, box spring and a table, across from the neighbourhood GO Transit station.

“Since it’s not a residential street, garbage crews don’t drive on Westlake as part of a regular route, so the garbage will just stay there,” he said.

I first went there about 10 days ago and spotted the bedding and table, and also noticed that the bags of garbage had been savaged and spread around by critters. The pallets were gone.

A week later, the mattress, box spring and table were still there but the bags of trash had been cleaned up. It had me wondering about the idiot who went to the trouble of hauling the bedding and table to Westlake and dumping it.

The city will pick up household junk and oversized items put out to the curb for collection on garbage day. It’s no secret. Just drag it out to the street and it’ll miraculously disappear, like the Stable Genius said would happen to the virus.

I checked back Tuesday and saw that the box spring, mattress and table had finally been picked up by the city, and thanks for that. But it was replaced by large piles of neatly folded plastic that looks like pool liner material.

There seems to be a pattern with illegal dumping: Once someone fouls a particular (usually secluded) spot, other slobs take notice and pile on with their own junk.

STATUS: I’ve asked the city if it can remove the piles of plastic before it attracts more illegally dumped junk, which will surely happen of it’s not picked up by the weekend.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...