Solid Waste Master Plan

everybody should compost food scraps

hand out countertop composting units like those advertised on-line (loamy?) to everyone who does not have a back-yard composter, to avoid the terrible mess & stink of the green bins

Appliances

Nowadays appliances have a much shorter lifespan than they used to; appliances producers should be punished for that, not rewarded, because they clog up the landfill and take forever to break down. One remedy would be to have a central appliance collection facility where discarded appliances get a second look and would be repaired if possible and resold to people who cannot afford new appliances.

Composting for businesses

Cafes, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. These surely produce the most organic waste. Make this as easy as possible for them, possibly with a direct to business pickup or separate dumpsters.

The city should look at other cities around the world to see if they have good methods of waste management.Is o waste feasible!

Ottawa is one million people much less than say Montreal or Toronto. Maybe a private company to help go through the different waste and dispose of them.

Businesses Take Back Containers for Reuse

In the "old days", the milkman would take empty milk bottles back, to clean and reuse. The City should incentivize a way for residents to return empty jars, bottles, cans, etc. to the businesses who sell the products, so that they can fill them again. Recycling is great but reusing is better!

Clear Bags is the most equitable option

Tags and reductions are unfair to larger households and to those with limited income. Switching to clear bags treats all households the same—if you don't compost/recycle then no trash pick up. Charging me for tags isn't going to encourage me to reduce waste as I can afford to buy as many tags as I need, the same cannot be said of low income households. Furthermore, applying the same bag limit on every household is completely unfair when some people live alone and others may have large multigenerational families.

Cost of Garbage Police?

Paying for people to check clear garbage bags? people having to buy special bags so "police"can check contents. Money better spent in other areas.

Ottawa City challenge

Would it help to have in your education and awareness program examples of real-life Ottawans who are already able to live out their daily lives while respecting the new garbage limits? Would it help to turn it into a city-wide challenge and encourage all of us to contribute meaningfully to this recovery program?

Larger Families / Extra items

I don't really support implementing a cost for 'extra' garbage. Some families are large - there may be 10 people in a home. It doesn't mean that garbage should be more; this was especially poignant as during Covid, many people moved in with families, and so households naturally became bigger. Also, there may be times when one simply has more garbage - moving (own waste + any waste left by previous owner/tenant), holidays, birthdays, etc. What an extra fee will do, will result in people illegally dumping at local businesses wherever there is a bin, or even on neighbour's property. It's just not really a feasible option, when there are so many other options on the table.

Specifically engage restaurants and grocery stores to find best ways to have them participate in the collection of compostable materials.

Restaurant/Food Store Composting

All businesses must compost to achieve zero waste.

Use suitable waste to build up knolls and hills in flat recreation areas to enhance pleasure and exercise.

For example, parks in flat land where hiking or cross-country skiing is or can be done. This gives the activity very much more pleasure and exercise value. This should include the vast tracts of flat land held for recreational purposes by the NCC. Where the area is wooded, the occasional hill that gives the user a view from a height adds greatly to the pleasure of the outing. Once each knoll or hill has the desired shape and height it can be covered over with soil and natural ground cover.

Making Compost and Recycling Mandatory

Ottawa needs to start enforcing recycling and composting punishable by a fine. It is 2021, recycling and composting is not a new concept to anyone but it seems that Ottawa is lagging behind the rest of Canada. With a 43% diversion rate in 2019, Ottawa could be doing much better than it is by simply imposing fines on people that chose not to recycle. There is no excuse not to be doing so, there is an app that shows people what is recyclable or compostable, and it gives reminders on the days that recycling and compost need to be put out. It is evident that people are simply not recycling or composting as they AREN’T REQUIRED TO by the city, why would people go out of their way to do something they don’t have to? This has clearly been shown time and time again, people are lazy, they simply do what is easiest for them (throwing everything in the trash). I do believe it is time to implement mandatory recycling and composting to create that push that people need to start. Other cities have started doing so and have been greatly successful in doing so such as the city of Vancouver. “Food scraps separation has been mandatory for residents and businesses in Metro Vancouver since January 2015. This applies to apartments and condos as well as detached homes.” If Vancouver can do this, for more than 7 years, I think that it’s about time that Ottawa does so as well. As well there should be fines for individuals improperly recycling, or an indication as to why something wasn’t recycled. « At Metro Vancouver disposal facilities, loads are inspected for banned materials that shouldn’t be in the garbage, such as recyclable materials, product stewardship materials, or hazardous materials that pose a risk to waste collection workers, the public, or the environment. Surcharges apply if these materials are found in the garbage at Metro Vancouver disposal facilities. A $65 minimum surcharge, plus the potential cost of removal, clean-up or remediation will be applied to loads containing banned hazardous and operational impact materials or product stewardship materials.»

Negative Externalities

Any plan to consider must take in negative externalities. A book I just finished reading referred directly to the concept of limiting household garbage and changing people behaviours. Many cities with limits on household garbage, such as bag tags have found out the hard way, people flushing food and refuse down the toilet, leaving their garbage in public places parks etc, using commercial waste bins, overloading recycling bins with non recyclable products etc., that there are many negative externalities that occur. To me incineration while still attempting to change peoples behaviour over time is most likely the best solution, though starting another waste management facility would also work. I understand that deciding on those things might be career suicide for a politician, but we do have to worry about the negative externalities of these decisions.

Clear bags and other options have to accommodate residents who use garbage bins and no regular garbage bags.

Bins often contain smaller grocery type bags which are opaque. Need to have better bag recycling for these types of bags.

Back to recycling basics

When I was in Elementary school we were taught this relatively new thing called recycling. I don't remember the specifics but it was along the lines of If you see a 1or 2 in the recycling triangle then recycle it, if you see a 3-4-5 then it's not recyclable here. No BS about a list of 50,000 items.

Burn what ever you can...

the City can take this as a suggestion for controlling city waste, since there are reliable and effective systems in Canada and around the world that can turn waste into power while at the same time reducing the impact on the environment and avoiding a toxic waste dump.

Recycling required for construction sites

I work in the industry and we contribute so much landfill waste. I've always wondered why there's never any large bins on construction sites. The tonnage must be massive.

Incinerate anything that isn’t compostable and generate electricity

In the context of the Covid pandemic, I felt uncomfortable picking up litter (e.g., licked straws and cups)- please reduce litter for COVID!