Amended Ottawa bag tag program fails at committee level; moves to council

Garbage collection is front and centre at Ottawa City Hall, with the future of Ottawa’s bag tag program up for discussion.

This comes just as Mayor Mark Sutcliffe released a number of amendments to the plan.

The original staff proposal included 55 annual bag tags for every household and that each garbage bag, container or bulky item would require a tag at $3.00 per item.

This proposal was generally criticized, which many saying it’s punitive to families and places an additional administrative burden.

So, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe put forward what he called a “more reasonable approach.”

Sutcliffe said on social media that he worked with members of the council to bring forward a new motion that would include a two-item limit with no tags, with a third bag added for the collection that falls after Christmas.

This means residents would only need to add tags to bags for items beyond the limit. However, the tags would still be $3.00 a piece, and each household would receive 15 free tags to get started — that don’t expire.

Sutcliffe said there would also be a special program to accommodate things like diapers and medical waste.

Despite failing on a tied vote at the committee level, the compromised proposal will still move to city council for another vote.

The recent amendment saw some support on Twitter, with one of those supporters being Somerset ward councillor Ariel Troster.

The mayor is working with councillors on a compromise when it comes to the bag-tag system: first two bags/bins require no tags, extra bag allowed out after Xmas, 15 free tags sent to households. I support this amendment. https://t.co/tRsAWmT3Px

— ArielTroster (she/her) (@ArielTroster) June 5, 2023

The aim of the “pay-as-you-throw” garbage program is to divert waste from the Trail Road Landfill, which is 10-15 years away from the end of its lifecycle.

Currently, staff said the average garbage bag only contains about 42 per cent trash, compared with about 13 per cent recyclables and 45 per cent organic materials.

Stittsville ward councillor Glen Gower isn’t totally convinced by the new motion but says the idea might have some legs.

“It doesn’t sound too different from what the staff proposed in terms of the objectives and the mechanics,” Gower says. “Sounds like some reasonable tweaks, but we’ll have to dig into that, hear the committee discussion, and debate on that. I think it addresses some of the concerns we’ve been hearing from residents so that it could have legs.”

Others aren’t convinced, like Rideau-Jock ward councillor David Brown, who called for no bag tags and a hard cap of four items per collection.

“I’m not in favour of a bag tagging regime and I have put a motion forward that would eliminate that as an option for council to consider,” Brown says. “The reason I’m against it is that I really don’t believe it’s going to work. I think we’re going to see increased levels of dumping in public parks, city facilities and ditches along our roadways.”

As for environmental concerns, CityNews Ottawa spoke with the executive director of Ecology Ottawa, even before this new amendment from Mayor Sutcliffe.

“Our opinion is very much that Ottawa should go ahead with this bag tag system,” Alice Irene Whitaker says. “We know it works. There are many cities who’ve already embraced it. And what it’s really about — it’s about reducing waste.”

If approved, the program would go into effect in July of 2024.