Councillor wants Ottawa to immediately explore new technologies for diverting waste from landfills

Garbage bags out at the curb in Ottawa are seen in this undated image. (CTV News Ottawa)

An Ottawa councillor wants city staff to explore new technologies to divert waste from landfills, as the city looks at implementing a "bag tag" policy to help extend the life of the Trail Road landfill.

Council will debate a motion from Coun. Allan Hubley on May 24 to direct staff to undertake an "immediate review" of technologies that "are available and in active operation" for diverting waste from landfills which meet or exceed current applicable environmental regulations and requirements.

Hubley's motion recommends the city give preference to potential solutions that could provide heat and electricity, "to be used to make housing more affordable for our residents."

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 fully operational.

Staff are proposing the city of Ottawa adopt a "partial pay-as-you-throw" program for solid waste collection, known as the "bag tag" program.

The program requires residents to put a tag on each garbage bag, bin or item placed at the curb for pickup. Curbside recycling and green bins will not require a tag under the proposed system.  The proposed city plan would provide each household with 55 tags for the full year, and additional tags would cost $3 each.

Hubley says the city needs to explore new technologies to handle the 317,000 tonnes of garbage produced each year.

"It is prudent for the city of Ottawa to address the long-term solid waste needs of our city that both benefit residents, taxpayers and the environment," Hubley says in the motion, which is seconded by Coun. David Brown.

"There are numerous examples of modern, efficient and environmentally friendly waste to energy technologies which reduce pollutants and which generate heat and electricity."

A technical memorandum as part of the Solid Waste Master Plan consultations outlined several mixed waste processing approaches and technologies, landfill disposal technologies and recovery technologies for the city to explore. The recovery technologies included mass burn incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, waste to liquid fuel, hydrolysis and landfill mining. In 2021, staff said options recommended to proceed to the evaluation stage will be evaluated, and the city will identify a short-list of options that are in alignment with the city's future needs, guiding principles and goals.

The regional municipalities of York and Durham own a waste-energy facility. The Durham York Energy Centre processes up to 140,000 tonnes of garbage from the two municipalities each year and generates enough electricity to power the equivalent of 10,000 homes for one year, according to the website.

Hubley told CTV News Ottawa on May 5 he does not support the proposed "bag tag" system for garbage, saying it's not going to solve the problem of extending the life of the landfill.

"The main objective is to extend the landfill; extending by two years isn't enough," Hubley said. "It's not going to solve the problem, yet we're going to really inconvenience our residents and taxpayers."

Hubley's motion asks staff to undertake an "immediate review of the technologies that are available," and conduct a 'Request for Interest" to see if any companies would be interested in partnering with the city to test waste diversion technologies.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Jeremie Charron