Weekly newsletter: June 4, 2024

Hello!

Commuters who drive east and/or west of Barrhaven as part of their travels should note two road resurfacing projects due to begin tomorrow (June 5) on Leitrim Road between River and Limebank, as well as on Fallowfield Road between Old Richmond and Eagleson.

Locally, the first stretch of road resurfacing begins on June 10 on Woodroffe Avenue between Longfields and Claridge.

The full text of the first draft of the new Zoning By-law has also been released, along with an interactive map which shows current and proposed zoning across the city. Very little change in Barrhaven other than some zone names and the boundary of the town centre, but I will provide a deeper look into it next week!

D-Day

This Thursday, June 6, is the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

The Battle of Normandy is a significant chapter in Canada’s military and national history, with Canadians storming Juno Beach alongside British and American soldiers to help begin the liberation of Western Europe.

Some 14,000 Canadian soldiers stormed Juno Beach under heavy fire and heavy casualties, while more than 90,000 Canadians saw action in the overall Normandy campaign.

The Battle of Normandy lasted 11 weeks, killing more than 5,000 Canadian soldiers and wounding another 13,000 before it ended in late-August.

A commemorative ceremony and wreath laying will take place at the National War Memorial on Thursday, with a fly past by military aircraft at 10:08 am.

If you can, please take a moment to remember.

For more information about D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, please visit Veterans Affairs Canada's dedicated webpage or the Juno Beach Centre’s website.

New garbage limit

New three-item garbage limit takes effect September 30, 2024. Details and what I think below.

Starting September 30, 2024, a new three-item limit on garbage set out at the curb every two weeks takes effect.

An item can be a piece of furniture, one bag set at the curb, or multiple bags in an up-to 140-litre container. (Yes, I’m aware of the faux pas about the availability of 140-litre containers in the city. Seems most of our containers are 121 litres.)

Extra garbage must be placed in City-issued yellow bags, available for 17.60$/four-pack at Home Hardware locations across the city. Additional details about residential yellow bags will be available closer to September.

The new garbage limit does not apply to recycling, green bin, or yard waste, unlimited amounts of which may continue to be placed at the curb on collection day.

The new garbage limit is an ancillary part of the Solid Waste Master Plan, which is a major update to the city’s waste collection strategy coming later this summer. The plan recognises the Trail Road Landfill will be at capacity in 10 to 15 years and seeks to extend the life of the landfill.

The Solid Waste Master Plan also contains what the City will do after the landfill reaches capacity. Long-time readers of the newsletter will know several Councillors and I favour a waste-to-energy incinerator with mixed waste processing (discussed in a newsletter issue earlier this year).

With the Municipality of Pontiac in Québec recently abandoning their proposal, the timing is right for Ottawa to step up and be a regional player in garbage processing and its downstream benefits.

Despite all that, I feel the new garbage limit solves a problem that doesn’t truly exist and has the potential of bogging down an efficient service with new administration, especially when considering the original staff report which notes most households already fall far under the new limit.

However, as mentioned last year, a new garbage processing building requires provincial support financially and administratively, and a demand was that we show we were doing something towards reducing waste to the landfill, so I did reluctantly support the three-item limit at council last June.

Actually, what I supported was amended from the original staff proposal, which was more restrictive and would have been more costly to administer.

Some residents may recall the bag-and-tag proposal which proposed each residence receive 55 tags to attach to garbage items placed at the curb, with extra tags available for purchase. The bag-and-tag proposal failed at committee and was replaced with what we have now.

An increase in illegal dumping is in the back of my head as a consequence of the new garbage limit, but I would argue it won’t present as catastrophically as some people have predicted, given most households are already far under the new limit.

However, I also think if we ultimately choose incineration and mixed waste processing at an upcoming council vote on the Solid Waste Master Plan, there will be an opportunity to reevaluate the garbage limit policy.

I also received a few questions about the yellow bags; The yellow bag programme already exists as something currently directed at businesses. Because Ontario cities are not responsible for commercial, institutional, and industrial waste collection, Ottawa implemented a yellow bag programme several years ago aimed at smaller businesses and schools to receive municipal collection at rates lower than private contracts.

As such, Council chose to expand the programme to reduce the administrative burden and cost of introducing a whole new bag-and-tag scheme.

The new limit takes effect September 30, 2024, meaning the first effective collection date for Barrhaven East is October 1, 2024.

Yard waste

Yard waste is collected separate from green bin during the spring, summer, and autumn.

Several residents wrote to me wondering why yard waste has been collected separately (and quite some time later within the collection day) over the last few weeks.

From April to November, yard waste is collected separately from regular green bin material due to the volume of yard waste generated in those months. Unlike regular green bin material, yard waste is not hazardous to human health as it decomposes, so it is sent to an outdoor composing pad at the landfill instead during those peak months.

Reducing the volume of material sent to the special processing facility for regular green bin material reduces cost, even when additional collection runs are factored in.

Both composted yard waste and processed organic material becomes "non-agricultural source material" used by farms in rural Ottawa to help with soil productivity.

Starting March 2026, yard waste will be collected separately from green bin year-round.

By changing to year-round separation of yard waste and organics, the costs to process the materials decreases by 64 per cent, as yard waste that doesn't require any special processing will just go to the composting pad at the landfill. This also means that pad will now be used year-round.

At that time, yard waste will continue to be collected weekly, but should be placed at the curb separate from organic materials. Yard waste can also still be placed curbside in green bins but should be in a separate container from organic materials (or in paper bags already used by many households).

That change does not impact the new three-item garbage limit.

By then, we’ll also be under a new waste collection contract with new vehicles, so barring major deficiencies, no more leaks!

This should wrap up what’s been a series of newsletter toppers about garbage. The Solid Waste Master Plan is expected to come to Council for discussion, amendments, and a vote later in the summer.

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Thank you as always for reading. You are the yellow bag to my new waste limits.

-Wilson