City working as fast as it can to extend life of landfill, staff say

UPDATE: Ottawa city councillors unanimously approved the solid waste master plan and long-range financial plan at its meeting on June 25, 2024. 

An overarching plan for Ottawa's garbage that's been five years in the making passed a major hurdle with ease on Tuesday, as members of the environment and climate change committee provided a unanimous sign-off. 

But when it comes to trash, some question how easy it will be to change long-entrenched habits. 

If passed by council next week, the plan will buy the city some time before it needs to make a decision on a pricey new landfill or technology like an incinerator, and figure out a way to afford it. 

"It's going to save our landfill life for at least another 14 years on top of the existing landfill life that we've got. It's going to allow us to save for a future solution. And it's going to add new services that residents didn't have before," Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard, who chairs the committee, told CBC. 

• How we pay for garbage service in Ottawa could soon change
• 10 key questions about Ottawa's coming garbage pickup changes, answered

Alain Gonthier, the city's general manager of public works, called this a "critical juncture."

For years, the city has been drawing from depleted reserves to compensate for rates that are unsustainably low. Now it's looking at an overhaul of services that includes a new way to charge users. 

"We can't sustain the rates that we're charging right now," Gonthier explained, saying they waited to implement a hike until staff had a plan to show how services will improve. 

A new flat fee could go up by as much as 17 per cent from this year to next.

Some residents 'don't care'

Councillors and delegates applauded the work done by staff, while questioning if it's possible to move even faster. 

The full 30-year plan outlines 25 "actions suites" including: 

• A new curbside pick-up limit of three items.
• More trash separation in parks.
• Capturing methane gas at the landfill. 
• Making organics programs mandatory at apartments and condos.

Without these steps, the city's landfill will be full without 14 years. Expanding the Trail Road landfill and sending more trash to private sites will add an extra eight years, while reducing waste and diverting recyclables from the waste stream will add six more. 

Those shifts rely greatly on public education and buy-in, which staff admit could be a lofty goal. 

"If we give people the option, then waste will continue to go into the landfill over and over again," said River Coun. Riley Brockington. "People are used to throwing things in the garbage. They don't see it after the garbage truck picks it up. They don't care about what happens."

'Not a quick turnaround'

This is a "partnership" between the city and residents, Gonthier explained after the meeting. 

"Collecting garbage and recycling is a basic service that residents expect," he said. "What we're trying to do is provide the community with the most effective and most efficient service, also at the lowest cost. And to be able to do that, we need the community's support." 

To keep fees low, the city needs residents to use its green bin program and do a better job at separating recyclables. Recycling those papers, plastics and metals will be paid for by retailers, supermarkets and other producers under a new provincial scheme. 

• Ottawa's $450M question: To burn our trash or not to burn our trash?
• Pontiac backs down on proposed waste incinerator project

It will be a process and "not a quick turnaround," Menard added. 

"All residents are affected by it. Everyone touches it," he said. "We want to make sure we get it right and that people are acclimatized to the new changes and the new services we're bringing in." 

The plan goes to a full council vote on June 25.