Solid Waste Master Plan – Still time to have your say

Survey: What is important to YOU?

A big thank you to everyone who filled out the first Solid Waste Master Plan survey on Engage Ottawa. Don’t worry if you haven’t had a chance to share your thoughts and ideas yet. The survey will be live for another week, until Friday July 3, 2020.

Please let us know what is important to you when it comes to waste management and encourage your family and friends to participate as well! Completing  the survey will only take 10 to 15 minutes, but the input you provide may have a lasting impact on future practices and policies in Ottawa.

Happy waste-free Canada Day!

Vision: Where do we want to go?

During the month of May, Solid Waste Services’ Long-term Planning team hosted four online workshops for Councillors, key stakeholders and key City staff with expertise relevant to the Master Plan’s development. The purpose of the virtual exercises was to gather input for a vision statement. The vision will define where we want to be in 30 years.

Some of the main questions put forward were:

• How bold and ambitious should we be?
• Can we aim for zero waste?
• How important is preserving landfill space?

The survey on Engage Ottawa includes all residents in that process. Your feedback will help us craft the vision statement and determine a number of guiding principles to outline our beliefs and see us through the development of the Waste Plan. It will also feed into the Plan’s goals and objectives for Council’s consideration later this year.

Engagement: What else is new?

So, you filled out the survey. Now what? Two new features on Engage Ottawa offer further engagement opportunities for those with a vested interest in waste issues. The Your Ideas tab is a place for collective brainstorming, while the Forums section enables residents to discuss their opinions with others. We are also regularly adding more content and information about various aspects of waste management to the project page, so check back often.

Did you know…?

Your recycling efforts make a difference! In 2019, about 56,000 tonnes of glass, metal, plastic, paper and cardboard collected from your homes were sorted here in Ottawa by Cascades Recovery+ and sold to North American markets. The materials became a resource for new products, and the City received approximately $6.9 million in revenue – a win-win for taxpayers and the environment.