Ottawa city council talks trash, agrees to look at technological options
CTV
Ottawa city councillors spent about an hour Wednesday debating the future of the city's waste management policy and settled on a plan directing staff to explore technological options like incineration.
Ottawa city councillors spent about an hour Wednesday debating the future of the city's waste management policy and settled on a plan directing staff to explore technological options like incineration.
Trash talk has been increasing at city hall because of a proposed tag-a-bag policy that would see residents pay a fee for exceeding a set number of tagged garbage bags per year. While the bag tag policy has yet to rise to committee, let alone council, a motion by Coun. Allan Hubley, seconded by Coun. David Brown, requested staff study other waste diversion technology and report to council in the fall as part of the draft solid waste master plan.
That motion kicked off a debate that included discussion around long-term and short-term waste policies.
"What we are asking for is for staff to provide more information about all the options," Hubley said. "There's other choices out there for us. We're asking for staff to give us all the choices so that council can make an informed decision."
The motion does not approve or guarantee any particular option. It does ask staff to "give preference to potential solutions that could provide heat and or electricity for improving housing affordability for our residents" and it also directs staff to prepare a feasibility study and business case for council's preferred option by the end of the term.
Currently, Ottawa residents throw out approximate 317,000 tonnes of garbage a year. The city of Ottawa's current landfill on Trail Road is expected to reach capacity in the next 13 to 15 years, and staff have said siting and developing a new landfill could cost up to $450 million and take up to 15 years to become operational.
Staff said Wednesday that even if a technological option like incineration or waste-to-energy is approved, reducing the amount of trash residents produce would still be required.
