Solid Waste Master Plan

City Council today approved a new policy to reduce unnecessary waste going to landfill, that will work towards meeting provincially mandated diversion targets and increasing participation in recycling and green bin programs.

The new policy will allow residents to put out three garbage items every two weeks

• A garbage item can be a garbage bag, a 140-litre container or bulky item. Households can put several smaller bags in containers up to 140 litres.
• There will continue to be no limit to how much residents can set out through curbside recycling and green bins.

Currently, 85 per cent of households are setting out three or fewer garbage items bi-weekly; this recommendation focuses on the remaining 15 per cent of Ottawa households and aims to drive up their diversion efforts.

Staff will look into leveraging its existing Yellow Bag Program to permit residential properties receiving curbside collection flexibility to purchase and set out additional bags. Council also approved a third-party review of its waste-diversion data to ensure staff has the best possible information to support decisions for its Solid Waste Master Plan.

This policy is part of a multi-pronged approach to reduce the amount of waste requiring disposal and extend the life of the Trail Waste Facility landfill, which could reach capacity in 13 to 15 years. The City will consider medium- and long-term options, including alternative technologies, as part of the draft Solid Waste Master Plan this fall.

Staff will report back to Council with an implementation and communication plan before the new program begins, no later than Q2 2024. This report will include strategies to address challenges and mitigate risks, and a comprehensive plan to guide residents through the change.

Council received an update on the transition to the new Provincial Blue Box Program, in which producers will be responsible for collecting and processing recyclable materials from eligible sources. The City will transition to the new program beginning on July 1, 2023, with the transition period ending on December 31, 2025. The City has negotiated an agreement with Circular Materials Ontario to continue collecting recyclables on producers’ behalf throughout the transition period and residents will see no change to their usual curbside recycling service.

A new policy to reduce unnecessary waste going to landfill, meet provincially mandated diversion targets and increase participation in recycling and green bin programs will rise to City Council for decision on June 14.

The City’s Environment and Climate Change Committee considered the new policy, which would change curbside garbage collection in Ottawa to a partial pay-as-you-throw program, beginning in Q2 2024. Residents can watch the staff presentation outlining the new policy on the City’s Youtube channel.

The Committee received an update on the transition to the new Provincial Blue Box Program, in which producers will be responsible for collecting and processing recyclable materials from eligible sources. The City will transition to the new program beginning on July 1, 2023, with the transition period ending on December 31, 2025.

The City has negotiated an agreement with Circular Materials Ontario to continue collecting recyclables on producers’ behalf throughout the transition period. As a result, residents will see no change to their usual curbside recycling service during the transition. The City will provide status quo collection on the current schedule and continue to handle customer service inquiries.

Staff propose extending the existing curbside collection contract with the current service providers for the transition period. After the transition period, the contracts for organics and waste collection would be extended a further three months, to minimize potential impacts to service and operations.

Items considered at this meeting will rise to Council on Wednesday, June 14.

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Today staff held a technical briefing to share the Curbside Waste Diversion Policy report recommendations with Council ahead of the report going to the Environment and Climate Change Committee on June 5, 2023 and Council on June 14, 2023.

The report is now available to the public, here are the links to view the report and its supporting documents:

• Curbside Waste Diversion Policy report (English)
• Curbside Waste Diversion Policy report (French)
• Supporting document / appendix 1/A
• Supporting document / appendix 2/B

We would like to take this opportunity to thank residents of Ottawa for your feedback on curbside garbage collection options! As you will see in the report, the feedback received played an important role in shaping the recommendations being presented for Committee and Council consideration.

Results from Engagement Series 2 and further analyses on the impacts of the various Waste Plan actions are being incorporated into the draft plan. The plan will lay out when each of the 57 actions could be implemented and their potential impacts on the goals of the plan.

A ‘What We Learned Report’ will be posted to Engage Ottawa soon that presents feedback from Engagement Series 2 and details how the feedback was used to adapt the draft plan.

The draft plan will be tabled in Q3 2023 and a final engagement round (Engagement Series 3) will take place in Q4 2023 to obtain input on the draft. Council will consider the final Solid Waste Master Plan that incorporates all the feedback we collected in Q1 2024.

The City of Ottawa would like to thank all the residents and stakeholders who participated in Engagement Series 2. We heard from over 4,500 residents through the public survey, online dialogue sessions, and focus groups. The feedback received will be used to develop the draft Waste Plan, which will be presented to Committee and Council in Q3 of 2023.

STAY TUNED: A “What We Learned Report” outlining the results from this round of engagement will be posted this upcoming fall. If the draft Waste Plan is approved by Council, the next round of engagement (ES3) will begin in Q4 of 2023.

STAY ENGAGED: Subscribe here to get future notifications related to the Solid Waste Master Plan.

Find below links to the two-pagers for background on the engagement series and how the City will use your feedback:

• English
• French
• Arabic
• Farsi
• Nepali
• Somali
• Spanish
• Chinese
• Anishinaabemowin
• Inuktitut

Public Survey: March 7^th – May 8^th

Please note: you do not need to sign up or register through Engage Ottawa to participate in the survey. If you are experiencing technical difficulties with the survey, please contact us at wasteplan@ottawa.ca.

Do you want to participate in an online survey to provide your input on the Waste Plan options? Survey links and information on the public survey can be found below.

Is there anything I should read before completing the survey?

It is recommended to read the survey consultation toolkit.

Where can I complete the survey?

UPDATE AS OF MAY 9TH: SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED, LINKS HAVE BEEN DISABLED.

To complete the survey, choose the language of your choice below:

• English
• French
• Arabic
• Farsi
• Nepali
• Somali
• Spanish
• Chinese
• Anishinaabemowin
• Inuktitut
  
  

Public Meetings and Discussion Groups:

Want to join a public discussion group or information session to learn more and provide feedback on the Waste Plan options? Registration links to sign up for the sessions can be found below. All sessions will be facilitated in both English and French.

REGISTRATION FOR ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS IS NOW OPEN!

Focus Groups:

Are you a young person, older adult, racialized resident, a new immigrant, person living with disabilities, or a member of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community? The City of Ottawa is organizing smaller group information sessions to discuss the Solid Waste Master Plan Options. The structure of the focus group will be an information session on the Waste Plan options, a period for question and answers, followed by a small discussion on how the Waste Plan options directly impact your community. If you are a member of this community and would like to attend a focus group, please register below:

Councillor Hosted Engagement Sessions:

In 2021 Council approved the plans vision, guiding principles and goals. A long list of options was also developed in 2021 to meet the needs and gaps of the City’s current waste management system. That long list was then evaluated using an approach that looked at the environmental, social and financial considerations of each option. We are now engaging on the resulting short list of options.

Which Options Made It to the Short List?

We started with a Long List of Options which were evaluated using a triple bottom line evaluation tool and short-listed. To see which options made it through, and which ones didn't, see Table 4 in the Evaluation Memo.

How will feedback be used?

Feedback from the public will be used to help develop a “system” of options that will be included in the draft Waste Plan. This feedback will be considered alongside:

• input from internal stakeholders at the City.
• the results of a financial analysis of the options. This will explore how affordable the options are and what the impact could be to Ottawa residents.

We will also need to consider:

• any changes to provincial and federal government legislation that could have an impact on how we implement some of the options (for example, the federal government’s single-use plastics ban)
• any lasting impacts on the waste generation habits of Ottawa’s residents due to COVID-19.
• the implementation timing of some options may not be as flexible due to contract restrictions, approval process, construction timelines etc.

Next steps

• A “What We Learned” report will be developed to outline what was learned through Engagement Series 2 and how feedback will be used.
• In Q1 2023, staff plan on tabling the draft Waste Plan for Committee and Council’s receipt.
• Once complete, staff will undertake the third and final Engagement Series for the project, which will include consulting with Councillors, residents and key stakeholders on the proposed final Waste Plan before it is presented to Committee and Council for consideration in Q2 2023.

Engagement Series 2 of the Solid Waste Master Plan will be starting in March 2022 and we can’t wait to hear from you! We will be hosting a variety of themed dialogue sessions, focus groups and an online survey, topics covered include:

• New and creative ways to avoid, reduce, and reuse waste
• Multi-residential properties’ green bin use
• How to improve our recycling programs
• How we manage garbage and recycling in City parks
• Role of technology and innovation
• Financial considerations
• Turning waste into renewable energy
• Education and enforcement

We want to know how far, how fast, and at what cost we should go.

Engagement will run 5 weeks and we will ask about various Waste Plan options, presented in the Phase 2 report.

Subscribe to our newsletter for more updates on the project.

We’re bringing you the rest of the Waste Plan options this Winter! We engaged on Curbside Garbage Collection first so that we could focus on these important potential changes that could affect the way your garbage is collected. We are analyzing all of the feedback received and will share a “What We Learned” report later this year.

Waste Plan options being presented for engagement this Fall include more ideas to encourage diversion of waste from landfill, reduce and reuse waste, improve collection of waste in multi-residential buildings and parks, expand promotion and education ideas, improve the management of food and organics, and much, much more. Check back later this Winter for an update!

The survey is now closed, thank you for participating. A “What we Learned Report” will be released later this year, stay tuned! Please join us this Fall when we start engagement on the second phase of the Solid Waste Master Plan.

Waste Plan options engagement has started and Curbside Garbage Collection Options are up first!

Complete the survey and/or sign up for a workshop to have a say in how garbage gets collected from your home in the future.

This survey focuses on just three Waste Plan options to help us increase waste diversion from the landfill. All other Waste Plan options will be presented for engagement in the Fall and will include ideas to reduce and reuse waste, improve collection of waste in multi-residential buildings and parks, improve the management of food and organics, and much, much more!!

Reducing garbage at the curbside is crucial to help achieve our vision of a Zero Waste Ottawa.

More than half of what people in Ottawa throw in the garbage could be recycled or composted.

We know we can do better.

If we rethink how we collect garbage at the curb, we can reduce emissions, extend the life of the landfill, and turn more waste into new products and resources.

The options we’re exploring include partial pay-as-you-throw (PAYT), clear garbage bags with material bans and reduced firm item limits.

You can also explore the purpose of this project, how options were developed and key considerations when it comes to education and enforcement approaches for these options.

We're on it!

Thanks to everyone for sending us your questions. We want to make sure we get you the best answer we can and due to the increase in volume, we'll need 5 business days to respond. We're loving these questions so keep them coming!

Residents requiring accessibility accommodations or paper surveys can contact Elizabeth Cybulski at 613-580-2424 extension 23202.