Bye bag tags: 3-container limit the newest garbage policy up for debate

Ottawa's mayor wants to limit households to three garbage bins at the curb each collection day and remove any requirement for bag tags.

It's a move Mark Sutcliffe hopes will have more buy-in around the council table on Wednesday, even if it means a more lenient policy than city staff had originally recommended, or the "compromise" he had proposed just last week.

"We need to have something that achieves a broad consensus on city council and also achieves consensus in the community," he told CBC News, in explaining why he was changing his position. "That's always what I'm striving to achieve, is to get everybody working together on the same plan."

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It was clear, after city staff unveiled a plan to require a tag on each container of garbage set out at the curb, that some residents and councillors strongly disagreed with where staff had landed after two years of research and policy work. 

In May, city staff proposed each property taxpayer be given 55 tags to use on garbage bins throughout the year. Extras would cost $3 each.

The goal was to encourage people to keep recycling and organics out of Ottawa's landfill, which is estimated to fill up within 13 years. At present, some 58 per cent of what ends up in garbage cans should have gone in the blue, black or green bins. 

Talks after committee stalemate

Councillors began hearing from residents who either disagreed with the idea of putting tags on their garbage — a practice staff pointed out has been in use for years in other municipalities — or thought larger families would be penalized. Many worried about illegal dumping. 

"I had a resident write and tell me every time they see garbage, they're going to see my face. I appreciate this is going to be unpopular," College ward Coun. Laine Johnson said at the environment and climate change committee meeting last week.

She urged council to continue to coach residents through a behavioural change, despite the pushback.

• 'Pay as you throw' garbage plan in limbo as debate ends in stalemate

At that meeting, the staff recommendations failed in a tie vote, but so did alternatives put forward by councillors Marty Carr and David Brown. 

Carr had worked with the mayor to suggest each household get the first two containers tag-free, and pay for tags after that. They would get 15 tags to help transition to the new system.

Brown, meanwhile, wanted to avoid tags altogether and felt the best course would be to limit households to four containers — Ottawa has had an unenforced maximum of six items since 2007.

Staff supported the Carr motion because it was in keeping with the partial pay-as-you-throw programs in other cities. Brown's was more status quo, they said.

In order to nudge people to participate in recycling and compost programs, the industry best practice is to limit garbage containers at or below the existing household average, they explained. 

In Ottawa, that "set out rate" is currently 2.1 containers per household. Seventy-four per cent of households already put out two garbage items every two weeks, so the bag-tag policy had been aimed at the remaining 26 per cent. 

'What's the point?'

That leaves Waste Watch Ottawa wondering what can be achieved by the latest proposal, which is now expected to go before city council for a final vote on Wednesday. 

"This is ineffectual policy. This is not going to change fundamental habits," remarked Duncan Bury, who co-founded the volunteer-based organization that pushes for better diversion policies. 

"The question to ask now is, 'What's the point?'"

The mayor, however, spent the past week talking with Carr, Brown, and others to find common ground. The three-bag limit was also floated by Coun. Riley Brockington at committee, and voted down.

Sutcliffe pointed out the limit will be far lower than the existing six-item maximum, and will indeed divert waste.

"To go from that to having a firm limit of three items, I think is progress. Maybe it's not as much progress as some people want, and I respect that. And maybe it goes further than some people want, and I respect that too."