Solid Waste Master Plan

November 21, 2023

The City’s Environment and Climate Change Committee approved its portion of Draft Budget 2024, including investments that support a green and resilient city by preparing for more extreme weather, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting greenspace, trees and waterways. This budget also invests in core services that residents rely on every day, such as water services and waste collection.

The Committee received the Draft Solid Waste Master Plan, which sets out proposed actions to sustainably manage waste over the next 30 years and extend the life of the Trail Road landfill by approximately 14 years. These actions include:

• Reducing waste, reusing and recycling
• Diverting 30 per cent of waste to private landfills
• Expanding the landfill within its existing footprint
• Banning industrial and commercial waste from the landfill
  
  

The City would also explore long-term solutions, such as anaerobic digestion for organic waste, waste-to-energy incineration to reduce waste going to the landfill, and mixed waste processing to mechanically separate divertible materials from collected garbage. Following this report, the City will begin a third round of public engagement to support the development of the final waste plan, to be brought to Council in Q2 2024.

To help extend the life of the City’s landfill, the Committee approved beginning the environmental assessment process required by the Province to permit the expansion of the landfill within existing property boundaries. Between the approval process and construction, this process can take anywhere from 10 to 15 years. Beginning as soon as possible would ensure waste can be managed without interruption for Ottawa residents and give the City more time to plan its next waste disposal solution.

The City would continue to invest in sustainable waste management, including:

• $4.5 million to continue developing and implementing the Solid Waste Master Plan and related projects
• $28 million to support operations and improvements at the Trail Waste Facility landfill, including expanding its gas collection system
  
  

Items approved at this meeting will rise to Council on Wednesday, December 6.

We are excited to share that we are approaching an exciting milestone for the development of the Solid Waste Master Plan! The key legislative dates for the tabling of the Draft Solid Waste Master Plan (SWMP) for Council’s information.

The dates are as follows:

• October 30^th at 12:30pm
  Technical briefing on City’s Youtube Channel + in person in Council Chambers

  
  

• November 21^st at 9:30am
  Committee meeting on City’s Youtube Channel + in person in Champlain Room

  
  

• December 6^th at 10:00am
  Council meeting on City’s Youtube Channel + in person in Council Chambers
  
  

You are all welcome to tune in to watch or listen to meetings in progress or access the video or audio of past meetings on YouTube or access them on the agendas and minutes web portal.

A quick note that while the Technical Briefing will be live streamed for public access, questions are reserved for member of Councillors and the media only. Should you wish to speak at Committee, you must sign up as a delegation For more information on attending and/or being a delegation at the Committee meeting on November 21, please visit: https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/council-committees-and-boards/get-involved-local-government#

Next steps to finalize the Solid Waste Master Plan

Your engagement and feedback has been instrumental in developing the draft Waste Plan, and seeking your feedback is not complete. Following Council’s receipt of Draft SWMP, staff will embark on the third and final round of engagement for the Solid Waste Master Plan’s development – Engagement Series 3. This engagement series will focus on informing stakeholders and the public of what the Draft SWMP entails, how stakeholder feedback from Engagement Series 1 and 2 has been integrated into the SWMP’s development so far and will provide an opportunity for residents and stakeholders to ask questions of staff and provide comments and feedback on the Draft SWMP before the tabling of the Final Solid Waste Master Plan in Q2 2024.

Engagement Series 3 will begin with a stakeholder sounding board meeting following Council’s receipt of the Draft Solid Waste Master Plan and public engagement will then begin mid-January and into February. A series of in-person public open houses across the city as well as virtual sessions will take place. Staff will also meet individually with all members of Council to seek their feedback on behalf of their residents and the input will be considered in the Final SWMP.

Throw it away? No way! In honour of Circular Economy Month, the City of Ottawa is sponsoring a free Repair Café on Saturday, October 14 at City Hall (Jean Pigott Place), 110 Laurier Avenue West. Repair Cafés are an international concept with the goal of reducing landfill waste, teaching new skills, and building community!

This event is hosted by the Ottawa Tool Library. Volunteers will be ready to help repair your items and share their expertise around everything from darning socks to re-wiring kettles.

Come and learn more about the Ottawa Tool Library and waste reduction, while saving an item from the landfill! Visit ottawa.ca/wastereduction for more.

In addition to discussing the 2026 Residential Curbside Collection Contract report, during this morning’s Environment and Climate Change Committee, our team had the pleasure of launching our new green bin video. The video can be found at Ottawa.ca/wastevideos, along with our recycling and garbage videos.

• NEW! Ottawa’s Green Bin Program & Composting Process Explained (3:39)
• What Happens to My Garbage? (5:05)
• What Happens to My Recycling? (4:58)
  
  We hope you find these videos educational and that they inspire you to reduce waste whenever possible.

The Solid Waste Planning Council Sponsors Group (CSG) provides vital strategic input, feedback, advice, and guidance to staff in developing and implementing the Solid Waste Master Plan (Waste Plan), as well as other key Solid Waste planning files previously classified as component projects to the Waste Plan.

The CSG represents the public and ensures staff are aware of current thinking and concerns of the community as it pertains to Solid Waste planning projects in addition to acting as Council-experts on various Solid Waste planning files, advocating for the work being done to better Ottawa’s waste management system.

Membership
The Solid Waste Planning Council Sponsors Group are made up of the following members:

• Chair, Environment and Climate Change Committee; Councillor Menard
• Vice Chair, Environment and Climate Change Committee; Councillor Carr
• Councillor(s) able to provide rural, urban and suburban representation; Councillor Gower, Councillor Kelly, Councillor Johnson
• A designate from the Mayor’s Office; Scott Moffat, Robyn Guest
  
  

The Councillor Sponsors Group is supported by Long-Term and Program Planning, Solid Waste Services, as well as City staff including City Manager’s office who facilitate meetings and lead work on key Solid Waste planning files.

Further background

On July 10, 2019, Council considered the staff report titled, “Solid Waste Master Plan Roadmap” and approved the establishment of a Council Sponsors Group to work with staff on the development of the Solid Waste Master Plan through each phase, as described in the report.

The Sponsors Group reviewed and provided input/feedback on the project plan and detailed timeline, on specific areas for inclusion in reports, on the draft consultation plan, on the draft vision statement, guiding principles, goals and targets prior to consultation, on the proposed options analysis prior to consultation, as well as on the draft and final recommended Plans.

The Public Works Department recommended the re-establishment of the Sponsors Group for this term of Council, to work with staff on the next steps in the Solid Waste Master Plan.

The motion was passed on June 14, 2023 with the first meeting of the re-established CSG on July 18, 2023 at the Trail Road Landfill.

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.

For more information on City programs and services, visit ottawa.ca, call 3-1-1 (TTY: 613-580-2401) or 613-580-2400 to contact the City using Canada Video Relay Service. You can also connect with us through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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.