It’s about time.

Parks Canada this week announced it will put an end to commercial open pit dumping at the Jasper Transfer station, hopefully spelling the beginning of the end to the last open dump in a national park in the country. Open pit dumping accepts the lie that trading short term convenience for long term environmental damage is okay.

The other mountain parks eliminated open park dumping years ago, and the Jasper transfer station has become a relic. Not quite a heritage site, but an element of a management style long discredited.

There will be growing pains in the industrial community. More waste will travel up the highway to Hinton, negatively affecting greenhouse gas targets. However 25 per cent of Alberta’s landfill waste comes from the construction and demolition industry, a number that can’t continue. While short term tipping fees will increase, sorting and recycling construction waste will save even larger clean-up bills in the future. Most communities have already adapted to increased recycling in the industrial sector. Sorting is not an impossibility. A peak at the extensive screening and sorting taking place at Francis Cooke landfill site proves that it can be done – in a much more competitive development market.

The municipality is worried about the proliferation of illegal dumping, however at this point in the game, dumping will still be allowed for residents. Contractors will need to spend more time sorting their trash, which could increase the cost of several municipal projects, however if the cost incentive is high enough, developers will fall in line. Economically and morally, companies cannot afford to get caught illegally dumping waste – especially in a national park.

But Parks must be careful with the handling of this closure. Yes, the plan has been in discussion for at least ten years, however waiving public consultation in order to expediate funding requests is a dangerous game. The land is public land, and the people must be able to voice their concerns about what is happening to their trash. As is seen in Toronto, few things are able to elicit as passionate a response as garbage.