OTTAWA: THE GARBAGE DUMP CAPITAL OF CANADA
But whose garbage is it?
Ottawa is the national capital of Canada, one of the top 10 countries in the world in which to live
according to the OECD better life index1. One thing that is not measured in the OECD index is the
production and management of solid waste and the number of garbage dumps. According to the
Conference Board of Canada; Canada produces more garbage per capita than 16 other advanced
industrial nations studied2. Unfortunately as Canadians, we not only produce more garbage than many
other countries we tend not to recycle much of it. Instead we just throw it into landfills for future
generations to worry about. According to the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario the provincial
diversion rate is only about 23%3 meaning some 77% of all our garbage heads straight to the landfill
garbage dumps. By comparison, 38 percent of waste in European countries ends up in a landfill. In
Sweden, only one percent heads to the landfill. In Canada, Nova Scotia’s waste disposal rate is 47
percent less than the national average.
Sad to say; but an internet search of municipal landfills, shows that Ottawa the capital of Canada has
more garbage dumps within its boundaries than any other provincial capital in the country.
Figure 1: The number of landfills within municipal boundaries for the capital cities of Canada.
1
http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/environment/municipal-waste-generation.aspx
3
http://www.eco.on.ca/index.php/en_US/pubs/annual-reports-and-supplements/2010-11-annual-report-engaging-solutions/media-release---government-failing-to-reduce-ontario-s-waste
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1
The four current landfills in Ottawa include Trail Road, Springhill, Navan and Carp Road which closed in
2011. The two proposed new landfills are the West Carleton Environmental Centre, on Carp Rd. and the
Capital Region Resource Recovery Centre on Boundary Rd at Highway 417.
Does Ottawa need all of these garbage dumps?
With a population of around 900,000, Ottawa is the second largest city in Ontario; but how much
garbage does it send to landfill disposal? Accurate numbers on how much garbage is produced by all
sectors including residential, industrial, commercial, institutional (IC&I) construction and demolition
(C&D) are hard to get. But close estimates can be made using provincial averages. The 2011 census
population for Ontario had a population of 12,851,8214. The Auditor General of Ontario in his 2010
annual report said that approximately 12,500,000 tonnes of non-hazardous waste were produced each
year by Ontarians5. So, Ontario produces a little less than a tonne of waste per capita per year. As per
the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario’s Annual Report, Ontario diverts about 23% of our waste
and sends the remaining 77% of waste to landfills throughout the province and the USA.
If these numbers are applied to Ottawa then it can be assumed, Ottawa produces a little less than
900,000 tonnes of garbage and landfills about 690,000 tonnes of that each year. Data from the Landfill
Information Management Ontario database maintained by the Ontario Ministery of the Environment
(MOE) provides information on how much annual landfill capacity is approved for each major landfill in
the province6. In total, the three current operating landfills in Ottawa have approved annual capacity of
more than 1,000,000 tonnes per year.
Landfill
Trail Road
Navan
Springhill*
TOTAL
*data from earlier version of the LIMO database
Approved fill rate Tonnes / year
563,300
344,750
102,000
1,010,050
The data shows that the current operating landfills easily have the necessary approved capacity to
handle the 690,000 tonnes of Ottawa waste that goes to landfills. The two new proposed landfills for
Ottawa, if approved, would add an additional 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes of annual capacity to the city
bringing the total approved annual landfill capacity to nearly 2,000,000 tonnes per year.
4
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/hlt-fst/pd-pl/TableTableau.cfm?LANG=Eng&T=101&S=50&O=A
5
http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_en/en10/309en10.pdf
6
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/en/monitoring_and_reporting/limo/index.htm
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Millions
Figure 2: The approved landfill fill rate (green) is the maximum waste that can be disposed of as
permitted by the province. The amount of generated waste sent to landfills (brown) is calculated based
on population and average waste disposal rates for the province.
It is clear that the Greater Toronto Area does not have approved capacity for its waste thus it exports
nearly all of it to landfills in other parts of Ontario and the USA. Ottawa has more approved capacity
than the amount of waste it generates. Therefore, it is available for the import of garbage from other
municipalities and regions in the province. Additional capacity from two new landfills would only
encourage the importation of garbage from other places.
Isn’t shipping garbage long distances too expensive?
One reason often given for needing local landfill capacity is that it is too expensive to ship garbage long
distances. That may have been true at one time when landfills were small and serviced the local need.
However, the current industry trend is to have very large waste management corporations involved in
all aspects of waste processing including collection, transportation and disposal of waste materials.
This trend coupled with increasing difficulty in locating new landfills, has resulted in the construction of
large regional landfill facilities that are designed to service large areas using special long haul transport
of waste. A recent article in Waste360 7 makes it quite clear that long hauling waste is a growing trend
and very profitable. “This migration to long-haul refuse transportation isn’t a new trend by any means,
but it’s one that’s been picking up speed in recent years”.
Although much of the data on long hauling waste is from the United States, research shows that the
same trend is occurring in Ontario.
7
http://waste360.com/long-haul/far-and-away-look-long-haul-waste-transport?page=1
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Figure 3: The interstate transport of waste in the USA 2003.
An internet search for documents on municipal waste disposal contracts shows that long haul shipping is
taking place in Ontario.
Ontario Garbage transportation – example Municipalities.
From
Durham region 2002 -2010
Durham region 2010-pres.
Peel Region
Owen Sound
York region (wet waste)
Napnee-Kingston
Guelph
Toronto
Killaloe
Quinte west
Greater Madawaska
Toronto *
*reported in the Ottawa Citizen April 10, 2006
to
distance 1 way
Michigan
Model City, NY
Warwick, ON
Michigan
Marlborough, Mass.
Syracuse, NY
Warwick, ON
St. Thomas, ON
Moose Creek, ON
Moose Creek, ON
Moose Creek, ON
Moose Creek, ON
460 km.
200 km.
250 km.
390 km.
900 km.
250 km.
180 Km.
200 km.
240 km.
300 km.
275 km.
450 km.
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The trend is clear, garbage will move from areas with little or no landfill capacity to areas with excess
approved capacity. In fact, excess capacity encourages competition for waste suppliers which results in
reduced tipping fees being charged for disposal – further discouraging recycling and diversion.
An example of that is a recent contract negotiated by the City of Guelph to have garbage shipped to
Twin Creeks Landfill, a Waste Management facility in Warwick, Ontario.8 Dean Wyman, the city’s
general manager of solid waste disposal, said he couldn’t speculate on why the price is going down at
the new [Twin Creeks] landfill. “It’s market-driven, and it could just as easily have gone up as down. It’s
nice that it has gone down…”
Conclusion
With almost 2,000,000 tonnes of available landfill capacity, Ottawa will be the final resting place for
garbage from all over Ontario including Toronto and the GTA. However, it will be the citizens and
taxpayers in Ottawa that will have to live with and pay for the inevitable environmental, social and
economic consequences of hosting a mega-landfill. As well, the Nation’s Capital will carry for many
generations to come the stigma of being the “Dump Capital” of the country.
8
http://www.guelphtribune.ca/news/new-landfill-and-direction-for-guelph-maste-management/
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