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Background:
2006 has been a very interesting year in Ottawa when it comes to waste management. In the past, the only thing people worried about their garbage was “What day it was supposed to go to the curb” and “Is it blue or black box day”. People could put out as many green garbage bags as they wanted, could put anything they wanted in the bags, and it all just disappeared by the time they got home from work. This is not all people think about their garbage in Ottawa any more.
In 2001, Lafleche Environmental was given approval to open a new environmentally-conscious landfill just East of the City. In 2005, the City of Ottawa was granted long-term expansion approval for the City-owned Trail Road landfill. In December, 2005, WSI announced big expansion plans for their Navan Road landfill and Waste Management followed suit in January, 2006, announcing plans to triple the size of the Carp Road dump. Both of these most recent announcements caught local residents by surprise, as the understanding was they would both close in 3-5 years. Many people took their concerns to the Mayor and City Council. Imagine the surprise when the official City response was “Those are private landfills handling commercial waste and they are a Provincial problem.” Imagine the further surprise when the Province’s response was “Waste management is a municipal responsibility”.
Many people in both the East and West ends, and all across Ottawa, have volunteered their time over the past 9 months to analyze the waste management issue, raise questions, and challenge our municipal and provincial governments. Most have come to the realization that there is a better future for Ottawa that doesn’t require 5 landfills… BUT… how do we make this happen? A sustainable future for Ottawa requires effort from everyday citizens, businesses, industry, and both municipal and provincial governments.
OttawaLandfillWatch.org and The Sierra Club of Canada are offering a free information session titled, “Ottawa CAN be a Leader in Sustainable Waste Management!”. The session is Monday evening, October 30th, 2006, from 7-9pm at the Embassy West Hotel at 1400 Carling Ave. You can just show up but if you pre-register you are eligible for doorprizes. Pre-registration is done by emailing: info@ottawalandfillwatch.org. The presentation will include details of the current status of Ottawa’s waste management programs, summary of what other Cities are doing to get higher waste diversion rates than Ottawa, and discussion about potential waste-to-energy alternatives like landfill gas, incineration, gasification, and anaerobic digestion.
John MacMillan, co-founder of OttawaLandfillWatch.org and Rod Muir, Waste Diversion Campaigner for the Sierra Club of Canada, will both be making presentations.OttawaLandfillWatch.org was founded in January, 2006 by community volunteers to raise the awareness of alternatives to landfill and to work with the City to institute a long-term sustainable waste management plan that doesn’t require 5 landfills. More information on the Oct. 30th event and the waste management situation in Ottawa can also be found at www.ottawalandfillwatch.org.
Waste Diversion Canada was founded by Rod Muir to provide recommendations to various levels of government regarding their waste diversion efforts. More information on Rod Muir’s efforts can be found at: http://ontario.sierraclub.ca/campaigns/waste_diversion/.