Curbside garbage collection could be costing you more soon
Ottawa is on the verge of a garbage crisis, and the solution might be a few clicks away for residents. A City of Ottawa online survey is asking how you want your garbage picked up, to help reduce waste.
However, you only have a few days left to vote on how you want the city to handle curbside garbage.
“There are times where I only have one little bag of garbage and there are times where you are cleaning up and you have lots of bags,” says Ottawa resident Antonietta Martines.
Martines used to use her green bin, but not anymore. The messy food waste just became too much effort, she says, so she started using a composter in her backyard instead.
“I don’t use it because I hate the mess,” says Martines. “I don’t use it but I have found my own personal solution. All my peels, corn, everything goes in my composter. It’s a great idea.”
Martines is doing her part, but some Ottawa residents are not, which is why the City of Ottawa is embarking on massive changes to waste collection.
The city has launched a survey with three options to help reduce waste.
- Partial pay-as-you throw: Households would be allowed to place a set number of garbage items out for collection. Households with more than this limit would purchase garbage tags for each additional item.
- Reduced item limits: Households would set out a reduced number of garbage items for collection. Anything above the limit would not be collected.
- Clear garbage bags with recycling and organics bans: Households would set out their garbage in clear bags. Recyclables and organic waste would not be permitted in the garbage.
All of the city’s residential garbage ends up at the Trail Waste Facility. The City says, if nothing is done to reduce curbside garbage, the landfill will reach capacity in 15 years.
“The hope is that through diversion and new technologies, we extend the life of the landfill and that we continue using the landfill that we have,” says Environment Committee Chair Coun. Scott Moffatt. “You can’t just ban organic and hope that everyone’s doing it. So that's where the clear plastic bags come in. So, you have clear plastic bags, coupled with a ban in organics, and that’s how you’re going to reduce the waste in that regard.”
Martines says she doesn’t like the idea of clear plastic bags on the side of the road.
“It’s not going to work, I know that. People are going to find another way of discarding their garbage,” says Martines. “The garbage should be picked up at least once a week. And I’m talking about this for the whole neighbourhood and I’m sure it’s the whole city of Ottawa as well.”
“We are collecting your garbage every week. It’s called a green bin,” says Moffatt. “Most of your waste that you produce is organic and it can go in the green bin and we’ll pick it up every single weekend at the end of your laneway.”
Survey results will be used to help select the best possible choice for curbside pickup, which could be one, or a combination of the three options. So far, there have been 17,000 responses.
Deadline to submit your choice to reduce waste is Sept. 12.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.