City environment committee approves plan to expand green-bin program in condos and apartments

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Ottawa is now one step closer to implementing mandatory green bins for condos and apartments that receive municipal waste pickup.

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On Tuesday, the standing commission on environmental protection and water management approved a staff proposal to require organic waste collection from multi-residential buildings that are receiving city garbage services. A date for implementation is still being determined.

Coun. Scott Moffatt was the chair of the committee. He said an organics strategy should have been developed for multi-residential properties years ago. This was to satisfy the put or pay requirements for buildings that are part of Convertus’ (formerly Orgaworld) processing contract.

Orgaworld was awarded the 20-year organics contract by Council in 2008. In 2010, the household green bin program began.

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Moffatt, who spoke after the meeting, said that the plan to expand green-bin collection in multiresidential buildings is a message for residents to know that they are supported.

Coun. Catherine McKenney represents a downtown ward that has a high concentration in condos and apartments. She said that residents often ask for green bin service.

It is something people want, McKenney stated.

If the city council approves the staff recommendations, staff will begin crunching the numbers to determine how much it would cost and how long it would take for mandatory green bin programs to be implemented at the buildings.

However, any new buildings that sign up to receive municipal collection must have a program for green bins by June 1, 2022. Other buildings can join the program until the city sets an obligatory participation date.

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Although the city provides garbage pickup for multi-residential properties, property managers can choose to hire private collection companies. The city staff could not compare municipal collection fees with private collection fees because private contracts could be based on garbage tonnages or units.

Staff indicated that they would report back to committee by mid-2023 with details on costs and a implementation date. Coun. Riley Brockington wondered why it would take so much time to complete the work.

Brockington explained to staff that she didn’t want to wait 14 months for a final document after you have done such great work for so many years.

Lindsay Webley is the project manager. This allows staff to meet with property managers and discuss potential problems.

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The city is working on a policy for multi-residential buildings as part of a larger project to write a new solid refuse master plan. This plan will have a heavy emphasis on prolonging the life of Trail Road’s municipal dump.

Since older buildings were not designed to handle multiple streams of garbage collection, increasing diversion rates in condo and apartment buildings has been a problem for the city for a long time.

The city is also interested to improve communication with residents regarding municipal diversion programs.

Duncan Bury, cofounder of Waste Watch Ottawa said that it’s a long-standing scandal how the city spends so much on waste collection promotion.

On average, the city spends 48c per household per year. However, staff research has shown that other municipalities spend between $2.28 to $6.50 per household.

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The committee also approved the staff plan to increase education and promotion of waste diversion.

Coun. Shawn Menard suggested that multi-residential buildings policy is a no-brainer. But he warned that other potentially controversial trash proposals will be made during the next term.

The city is looking at ways to increase waste diversion. This includes reducing the allowed number of garbage bags per household, introducing a payment-per-bag system, and implementing mandatory transparent bags.

This is a major win for Ottawa, but it’s the easy win, Menard stated about the multi-residential building strategies.

There is much more to learn.

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