Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Journey To Bake-Lite

Demolished Foundations in Belleville, Ontario, Canada

Apr 16 2013

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Recent status Demolished
Location # 6693

Today I decided to take a trip out to the old site where the remains of Bake-Lite lie. Bake-Lite Thermosets began operations in the 1939 post war. The factory specialized in resins and plastics.

In the 1970's it was realized that environmental controls were necessary for unchecked pollution. The managers of Bake-Lite scrambled to hide and dispose of hazardous materials. The materials were dumped, hidden and buried on the property and land in and around the plant by employee's at the request of the managers. There were 100's of barrels buried on the land that eventually broke down and leaked poisons into the ground and surrounding waters. Once the company had been caught the plant was shut down, that was in 1992.

To this day there are still barrels buried that are breaking down or have yet to. The entire area (land and waters) is completely contaminated.

Bake-Lite was demolished in 2005.

On December 2nd 2008 the owner of Bake-Lite James Sinclair, Demolition and Recycling Inc. were fined a staggering price totaling $659,000 altogether. Mr. Sinclair also received 4 months in jail.

The clean up price of the site is far too expensive for the government, municipality or Quinte Conservation to pay for so for now it is uncertain whether the problem will ever be fixed.

Along my journey I seen some furry friends, it's saddening to know they will most likely meet an untimely death living in such a contaminated area.

It is beyond me why the demolition crew left so much behind on the property. It was like they hauled off 3/4 of the building then just left the rest behind. It was quite interesting to say the least.

Anyone wanting to visit this site please remember to dress accordingly and do not take any pets with you, it's also quite a hike. Took me about 40 minutes to reach it.

Comments

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2 years ago

It's only ruins now. There are remains of a small building at the waters edge. There isn't much of the actual factory left and it sits in the middle of water. There is a couple other small ruins as well. You can get the ruins directly off dundas right across from the car wash as there is only a small fence that you can walk around. However a trek through the woods is worth it if you don't want to get caught!

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10 years ago

Scary thought is how many "unknown" similar places are there? A lot of the mid century companies disposed of waste just by removing it from the immediate building,....... by burial, sewers, piping to rivers or any means possible.

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10 years ago

Strange... the PO was ordered by a judge to clean this place up 2 years ago and all the environmental violations. Seems like that stalled, no?