Ottawa continues to clean up after ice storm

Since Wednesday’s severe weather event, Ottawa Public Works has been working to address the aftermath, which has resulted in more than 2250 calls for service.

As of this morning, the Forestry team has tackled over half of these calls, while the Traffic team has brought back nearly 150 traffic signals and installed emergency generators at all intersections that remain without power. Additionally, curbside waste collection has resumed, benefiting residents with spoiled food who can now take advantage of green bin pick-up.

Meanwhile, the Roads and Parks teams are still addressing fallen trees and debris that affect the city’s parks and transportation network, followed up by concentrated street sweeping.

Although trees, limbs, and brush remain a priority, staff and contractors will soon shift their focus to broken limbs, non-hazardous removals, re-inspections, pruning, and brush/wood cleanup. The process of collecting and chipping all this debris is expected to take several weeks, but residents can help by placing tree cuttings, branches, and brush at the curb for chipping or collection, separate from non-organic waste.

To facilitate collection, branches should be tied with twine in bundles of less than 1.2 m (4 ft.) in length and 60 cm (2 ft.) in width. Bundles or containers should weigh no more than 15 kg (33 lb.), and individual branches should be less than 10 cm (4 in.) in diameter. Larger tree cuttings, branches, and brush may be brought to the City’s Trail Waste Facility at no charge until further notice.

Residents are encouraged to remove all packaging and leverage the weekly curbside green bin collection for food waste. For those with more urgent needs to dispose of food waste, a large bin will be available at the Trail Waste Facility at no charge from April 10 to April 15.