Residents must adjust ‘waste disposal habits’ as Ottawa adopts three-item limit

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Be prepared to be nagged — in the nicest way possible — about the volume of your garbage.

City of Ottawa staff will “focus primarily on supporting residents as they adjust their waste disposal habits” as the city gears up to limiting garbage to three items per household effective Sept. 30.

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Ottawa Council voted in June 2023 to limit households to three garbage items every two weeks as part of a new curbside waste-diversion plan to take pressure off the Trail Road landfill site.

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Although it’s commonly called the “three-bag limit,” a garbage “item” can be a garbage bag, a 140-litre container or a bulky item. Under the new limit, households that currently put their garbage in a container may continue to place multiple smaller bags in the container. There will continue to be no limit to how much sorted waste households can divert through the blue-, black- and green-bin programs.

A report to be presented to the city’s environment and climate change committee on Tuesday outlines how residents will be encouraged, cajoled and eventually pressed into compliance with visit from solid waste inspectors.

The emphasis will be on education, but the transition will culminate in “addressing instances on noncompliance” by not collecting garbage that has been put out incorrectly, the report says.

Here’s how it will work.

As of October: All garbage left at the curb will be collected, even if the limit is exceeded. Garbage collection staff will record and leave a “custom non-compliance tag” indicating the limit and how to properly participate in waste-diversion programs.

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As of November: If the item limit is exceeded, garbage collection staff will record that and leave one item behind with the custom non-compliance tag.

As of December: Only three garbage items will be collected and the non-compliance tag will be attached to the garbage items left behind.

After that, each scofflaw can expect to get a firm talking-to about their transgressions. “Collection operators will continue to document cases of improper set-out and escalate for review and follow-up by a solid waste inspector,” the report says.

An awareness campaign has already begun, including mailouts to residents, advertising and kits for city councillors.

“Waste-diversion education” is to begin in June and will last until March 2025 to promote existing recycling programs and waste diversion.

From November to February, there will be extensive promotion, advertising and outreach, including a door-knocking campaign and targeted support for neighbourhoods where diversion levels are low and parts of the city where there are higher rates of garbage left at the curb. There will be presentations in schools and materials and videos with captions in as many as nine languages.

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City staff expect there will be increased cases of illegal dumping as a result of the new limit on curbside garbage. Residents can report dumping by calling 311 or online at Ottawa.ca. Council approved temporary resources in the 2024 budget to monitor illegal dumping in parks and to address the anticipated increase in dumping.

The city doesn’t expect dumping will last long. “Illegal dumping is expected to trickle off after three to six months of the new policy being in place when paired with an enhanced temporary monitoring program,” the report says.

Meanwhile, the environment and climate change committee will be asked to approve “leveraging” the yellow bag program already available to small businesses to include households that exceed three garbage items.

Participants registered in the yellow bag program can buy those bags for excess garbage and place the bags at the curb. The yellow bags will be sold in four-packs for $17.60 plus tax, with the cost of the non-profit program recovered through the sale of the bags. About 300 small businesses are currently registered in the program.

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