Slight increase in households exceeding three-item garbage limit as full enforcement begins
CTV
New statistics from the City of Ottawa show there was an increase in households exceeding the new three-item garbage limit as the final phase of the new rules began earlier this month.
New statistics from the City of Ottawa show there was an increase in households exceeding the new three-item garbage limit as full enforcement of the new rules began earlier this month.
As of Dec. 3, households that exceed the three-item limit without placing the garbage in a yellow City of Ottawa bag had all excess garbage left behind by collection staff.
Data from the City of Ottawa shows 1.04 per cent of households out of 157,866 curbside properties had items tagged and left behind between Dec. 2 and Dec. 6. That number decreased to 0.61 per cent during the second week of implementation between Dec. 9 and Dec. 13.
That marks an increase from the last week of November, when 0.3 per cent of households received a tagged garbage item. Statistics provided weekly by the city since the new rules started have shown consistent decreases in households exceeding the limit. Just under two per cent of homes had items over the limit during the first week of implementation between Sept. 30 and Oct. 4.
The City of Ottawa has been phasing in enforcement of the three-item limit through the fall. In November, households that exceeded the limit without placing it in a yellow bag had one item left behind by collection staff. As of December, any garbage over the three-item limit that is not in a yellow bag will be left at the curb.
The city says it will continue to use custom courtesy tags on the garbage items left behind to educate and inform residents.
The three-item limit was implemented to clamp down on illegal dumping and to extend the life of the Trail Road landfill. The city says it received approximately 1,264 reports for illegal dumping and issued one fine since the start of the new rules.
