1.             TABLING OF DRAFT INDUSTRIAL, COMMERCIAL & INSTITUTIONAL (ICI) WASTE DIVERSION STRATEGY, “DIVERSION 2015”

 

PRÉSENTATION DE LA STRATÉGIE PROVISOIRE VISANT LA RÉORIENTATION DES DÉCHETS INDUSTRIELS, COMMERCIAUX ET INSTITUTIONNELS (ICI), « RÉORIENTATION 2015 »

 

 

 

Committee recommendationS AS AMENDED

 

That Council :

 

1.                  Receive the attached Draft Industrial, Commercial & Institutional (ICI) Waste Diversion Strategy, “Diversion 2015” for public review;

 

2.                  Approve the public consultation program recommended herein and associated costs, as amended by the following:

a.      That a consultation open house be held in the centre of the City.

b.      That consultations include the use of conditions requiring the diversion of construction and demolition waste in building permits, demolition permits, plan of subdivision, site plans and other permits related to the building approval process.

 

3.                  Request the Federation of Canadian Municipalities engage the Federal Government in discussions over reducing packaging material and converting packaging material into recyclable material, in order to reduce the waste streem; and that Ottawa-area Members of Parliament be copied on the request; and

 

4.                  Request the Association of Municipalities of Ontario engage the Government of Ontario in discussions to increase waste diversion in the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional sector to reach 60 per cent, in order to reduce the waste stream; and that Ottawa-area Members of Provincial Parliament be copied on the request.

 

 

RecommandationS modifiÉeS du Comité

 

Que le Conseil :

 

1.                  reçoive la Stratégie provisoire visant la réorientation des déchets industriels, commerciaux et institutionnels (ICI), « Réorientation 2015 » pour examen public;

2.                  approuve le programme de consultation publique recommandé dans le présent rapport, ainsi que les frais afférents, avec les modifications qui suivent :

a.      qu’une consultation publique ait lieu au centre-ville;

b.      que les consultations comprennent le recours à des conditions exigeant la réaffectation des déchets de construction et de démolition dans les permis de construire, les permis de démolition, les plans de lotissement, les plans d’implantation et les autres permis liés au processus d’approbation des immeubles;

 

3.                  demande à la Fédération canadienne des municipalités d’amorcer des discussions avec le gouvernement fédéral sur la réduction du matériel servant à l’emballage et sur la conversion de ce matériel en matières recyclables, en vue de réduire le flux de déchets, et que les membres du Parlement de la région d’Ottawa reçoivent une copie de cette demande; et, 

 

4.                  demande à l’Association des municipalités de l’Ontario d’amorcer des discussions avec le gouvernement de l’Ontario afin de relever le taux de réaffectation des déchets dans les secteurs industriel, commercial et institutionnel afin qu’il atteigne 60 p. cent, en vue de réduire le flux de déchets, et que les membres du parlement provincial de la région d’Ottawa reçoivent une copie de cette demande.

 

 

Documentation

 

1.      Deputy City Manager's report Public Works and Services dated 26 June 2008 (ACS2008-PWS-SWS-0003).

 

2.   Extract of Draft Minutes, 8 July 2008, follows the French version of the report.

 


Report to / Rapport au:

 

Planning and Environment Committee

Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement

 

and Council / et au Conseil

 

26 June 2008 / 26 juin 2008

 

Submitted by/Soumis par: 

R.G. Hewitt, Deputy City Manager / Directeur municipal adjoint,

Public Works and Services / Services et Travaux publics

 

Contact Person/Personne ressource: Albert Shamess, Director/Directeur
Solid Waste Services / Services de la gestion des déchets solides

613-580-2424, 25873 albert.shamess@ottawa.ca

 

City-Wide / À l’échelle de la Ville

 

Ref N°:  ACS2008-PWS-SWS-0003

 

SUBJECT:     Tabling of Draft INDUSTRIAL, COMMERCIAL & INSTITUTIONAL (ICI) WASTE DIVERSION Strategy, “diversion 2015”

 

OBJET:          Présentation de la Stratégie provisoire visant LA RÉorientation Des déchets industriels, commerciaux et institutionnels (ICI), « RÉorientation 2015 »

 

 

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

 

That Planning and Environment Committee and Council:

 

1.                  Receive the attached Draft Industrial, Commercial & Institutional (ICI) Waste Diversion Strategy, “Diversion 2015” for public review.

2.                  Approve the public consultation program recommended herein and associated costs.

 

RECOMMANDATIONS DU RAPPORT

 

Que le Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’environnement et le Conseil :

 

1.                  reçoivent la Stratégie provisoire visant la réorientation des déchets industriels, commerciaux et institutionnels (ICI), « Réorientation 2015 » pour examen public;

2.                  approuvent le programme de consultation publique recommandé dans le présent rapport, ainsi que les frais afférents.

 

BACKGROUND

 

The City does not currently manage ICI and Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste except in limited quantities collected through the Yellow Bag and residential programs. Ottawa’s 2002 Integrated Waste Management Master Plan (IWMMP) states that:

 

“The City should not be directly responsible for the provision of service to the ICI sector with the exception of both buildings for which the City is responsible and public spaces… Although the City should not take any direct responsibility for waste management in the ICI sectors, the City should:

 

§          Monitor and encourage waste diversion activities in these sectors (to provide environmental leadership);

§          Monitor and take appropriate action, as required, to ensure that there is adequate processing and disposal capacity to service the needs of these sectors (to foster economic well being); and

§          Prior to initiating any program with respect to these policies, the City should undertake comprehensive consultations with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the implications of the planned program are thoroughly understood by both staff and City Council.”

 

During the summer of 2006, Council reassessed its position regarding the management of ICI waste, and directed that staff “undertake a thorough examination of the suite of technologies for managing both residential and ICI waste streams… and revisit the IWMMP to develop comprehensive city wide residential and ICI waste management strategies…”. 

 

In March 2007, Council approved the scope of work for the ICI 3R Waste Diversion Strategy, and a revised consultation program to enable broad meaningful consultation with key stakeholders.  A summary of the Consultation program carried out and the results of the program is attached as Document 1.

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

Diversion 2015 is a policy document that sets out goals, objectives and targets for the management of industrial, commercial and institutional waste in the City.  As with other strategic planning documents, it outlines a vision and the tools to achieve that vision.  As there are some current initiatives in place to deal with the ICI waste stream these are summarized and future actions needed to meet the vision are outlined. 

 

Approach & Focus of the Draft Strategy

 

The current approach to management of ICI waste has led to a situation where there are significant gaps in:

 

1.      Information on overall waste quantities;

2.      Details on the diversion which occurs within the sector;

3.      Regulatory authority over the ICI waste stream; and

4.      Initiatives focused on waste diversion rather than disposal.

 

The strategy describes how the City proposes to close these gaps through:

 

§         Collecting and analyzing local ICI waste data;

§         Promoting ICI waste minimization and diversion;

§         The use of appropriate financial and regulatory tools to promote diversion of ICI waste;

§         Promoting appropriate regulatory changes at Provincial and Federal levels; and

§         Partnering with waste service providers to enhance the scope and scale of diversion initiatives and services available.

 

The strategy does not constitute a detailed implementation plan.  Additional consultations and further work will be required to give shape and meaning to the ideas expressed in the strategy and to develop an appropriate implementation plan in consultation with the ICI sector and local business community.

 

Goals

 

The primary goals in development of this strategy are:

 

·        To effect sustained measurable reductions in the gross per capita quantity of waste generated in the City of Ottawa;

 

·        To maximize the amount of waste diverted from landfill, and to defer the need for and minimize the scale of landfill expansions in the City of Ottawa; and

 

·        To achieve 60% diversion of the ICI waste stream from disposal by 2015 based on 2007 quantities.

 

Objectives

 

Our overall objectives can be summarized under the following major categories:

 

  1. To lead by example: - Through a comprehensive in-house waste management plan and the championing of solid waste issues at the municipal, provincial, and national level.

  2. To inform: - Through education, training, and technical assistance programs.

 

  1. To influence: - Through the use of financial controls and public recognition programs.

  2. To partner and enable:  - With the waste service sector to provide for the range of services needed to meet the waste processing requirements of the community, including working to identify and assist in development of markets for materials.

 

  1. To direct and control: - Through the use of appropriate financial and regulatory tools to ensure that Ottawa businesses and institutions are able to operate on a level playing field with respect to the management of solid waste. 

 

  1. To increase diversion: - Through focus on waste streams that represent significant volumes of waste, or materials for which diversion programs can be readily and affordably established, specifically: paper products; blue box materials; organics; asphalt shingles; gypsum board; and clean wood.

 

Approach

 

A solid and sustainable ICI waste management strategy needs to focus firstly on maximizing diversion of materials that are present in the largest volumes and that have viable markets in place.     Generally these would include:

 

Paper including:

·        Old Corrugated Cardboard (OCC);

·        Mixed Paper; and

·        Old Newspaper.

 

Blue Box Materials:

·        Plastic Bottles

·        Aluminum; and

·        Ferrous metals

 

As the City’s composting programs develop and the organics composting facility is in place, steps can be taken and programs can be developed for:

 

Kitchen Organics, in the following sectors:

·        Accommodation & Food Services;

·        Health Care & Social Services;

·        Retail Food Stores; and

·        Educational Facilities.

 

As Markets develop for C&D materials, steps can be taken and programs can be developed for:

 

C&D:

·        Asphalt Shingles;

·        Metals;

·        Clean Wood; and

·        Gypsum Board.

When reviewing the categories of materials listed above and the relative percentages of those materials in the waste stream, the rationale behind areas of focus becomes clear.  That is, the focus is on the components that make up the largest volumes of material in the waste stream. 

 

Eventually, as diversion efforts move towards the materials of smaller volume, a point is reached where it costs far more to recover the material than the benefit achieved by recovering it (the Law of Diminishing Returns).

 

Diversion 2015 sets a target of diverting 60% of the ICI waste stream from disposal by 2015.  It includes 3 distinct, but somewhat overlapping Phases:

 

Phase 1 – Demonstrating Leadership

Phase 2 – Promoting, Enabling & Mandating Diversion

Phase 3 – Maintaining a Level Playing Field

 

Phase 1 – Demonstrating Leadership - emphasizes that the City, as a major employer and landowner must demonstrate leadership in ICI waste management by ensuring that its facilities, parks and public spaces are appropriately serviced.  This phase also provides for the development of programs that will enable the City to better monitor ICI waste generation, diversion, and disposal in order to conduct detailed planning for subsequent phases of the strategy; and to recognize leaders in the community for their efforts to minimize waste generation and maximize diversion.

 

Phase 2 – Promoting, Enabling and Mandating Diversion  - consists of the gradual introduction of non-regulatory and regulatory measures on a material-by-material basis until such time that commercially recyclable materials are being diverted from disposal to valuable uses and no longer being sent to landfill or other disposal outlet.  A five step approach will be used in this process:

 

§         Step 1 – Promote and educate;

§         Step 2 – Facilitate diversion;

§         Step 3 – Implement differential tipping fees on targeted materials at municipal landfills;

§         Step 4 – Ban targeted materials from municipal landfills; and

§         Step 5 – Mandate diversion of targeted materials.

 

Each step will be applied to individual waste streams (e.g. mixed paper.)  In some cases, such as clean wood, the City will need to start at Step One because there is no significant history of diversion of the material.  In other cases, such as mixed paper, the City can move quickly through the steps, as there is a well-established history of its diversion with local processing facilities already in place.


 

Phase 3 – Maintaining a Level Playing Field - provides for active compliance monitoring and enforcement in acknowledgement of the role they play in providing market certainty to waste generators and processors alike.  A visible and meaningful compliance monitoring and enforcement program is important for three reasons:

 

§         It provides waste processors with assurance that investments made to support increased diversion will be worthwhile;

§         It ensures a level playing field amongst Ottawa’s businesses and institutions, and a willingness to comply; and

§         It serves as a deterrent to the 5-10% of the community that typically will not comply unless penalized for non-compliance.

 

Recommended Consultation Program & Next Steps

 

While Phase 1 activities will have limited impact on the ICI community, the strategy will have far reaching impacts on the community over time.  For this reason, it is important that a comprehensive consultation program be carried-out.  The following program of activities is recommended.

 

Timing

Activity

July 3, 2008

§         Notice sent to contact list comprising 345 individuals, businesses, institutions, and organization.  Ö

§         Press Release issued regarding tabling of Diversion 2015.  Ö

July 8

§         Tabling of Diversion 2015 at Planning & Environment Committee.Ö

July, August & September

§         Publish notices in industry journals and dailies at regular intervals.

§         Submit news items for publication.

July, August & September

§         Present Diversion 2015 at small and large group meetings with key stakeholder groups including waste service providers.

§         Host on-line discussion regarding key components of the strategy.

October

§         Host a second Waste Forum to review key components of the strategy.

§         Host three evening Open Houses in east, west and south ends of the City.

§         Review consultation results with the Stakeholder Advisory Committee, the Business Advisory Committee, and the Environmental Advisory Committee.

November

§         Finalize Diversion 2015.

§         Draft Phase 1 Implementation Plan.


 

December

§         Table the strategy and implementation plan for approval with a report outlining the feedback received and rationale for any changes made.

January 2009

§         Diversion 2015 and Phase 1 Implementation Plan approved.

 

CITY STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

 

The City’s 2007-2010 Strategic Plan[1] sets the following solid waste objective:

 

Reduce residential dependence on landfill/dumps by 30 per cent within 1,000 days:

Complete the Integrated Waste Management Plan with the ICI 3Rs Strategy for the management of industrial, commercial and institutional waste, a Residual Waste Management Plan, and a Landfill Management Plan.

 

Diversion 2015 is the draft ICI 3R strategy and, if approved and implemented, will allow for significant progress towards achievement of the above strategic objective.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

 

The total amount of waste generated in the City of Ottawa averages approximately 1,000,000 tonnes per year.  Of this between 30% and 40% is from the residential sector and 60% to 70% from the ICI sector (including C&D Waste).

 

It is estimated that less than 20% of ICI waste is recycled in some manner based upon 2004 Statistics Canada estimates.  This compares to current residential diversion rates of over 30% diversion through recycling programs.  The residential diversion rates will increase significantly as the City moves into composting of organic wastes.

 

Clearly the ICI sector has a major impact on the City’s ability to plan for and manage future disposal capacity.  There are 4 landfills within the City of Ottawa where land use conflicts have already occurred or may occur in the future and diversion of ICI waste can have a significant impact on reducing reliance on landfills for disposal.  The approach outlined in the Strategy that is designed to inform, influence and mandate changes in how ICI waste is managed will have positive environmental impacts.

 

RURAL IMPLICATIONS

 

This strategy would apply equally to urban, suburban and rural ICI waste generators.


 

CONSULTATION

 

Consultation has been carried out throughout this strategy, as outlined in Document 1, and with another phase of consultation being recommended with the Tabling of this draft strategy. Activities in the expanded consultation program include:

 

§         2nd Waste Forum;

§         3 Open Houses; and

§         Development & monitoring of on-line discussion/consultation.

 

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 

Funds in the amount of $53,000 to implement the recommended consultation program are available in the 2008 Approved Solid Waste Services Capital Budget.              

 

Diversion 2015 identifies the scale of funding required to realize strategic goals, objectives and targets.  It does not provide detailed costs because the various steps require detailed planning and approval for implementation.  Upon finalization of the strategy this fall, staff will prepare an Implementation Plan that will identify operating and capital cost requirements which will be in the range of $1,000,000 for activities recommended for the period 2009-2012.

 

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

 

Document 1 – Summary of Consultation Program and Results

Document 2 – Report on Consultation, January 2008 (available on-line)

http://ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/ici/documents/consultation_summary_en.html

Document 3 - Diversion 2015, May 2008

 

DISPOSITION

 

That Public Works and Services carry out the recommended consultation program and bring forward documents for approval in December 2008.


DOCUMENT 1

Summary of Consultation Program and Results

 

Since March 2007, the following activities were carried out:

 

§         Reviewed Ottawa’s ICI waste and prepared a Waste Characterization Study.[2]

§         Prepared a Discussion Paper[3] that outlined ICI waste diversion practices employed in other jurisdictions, an assessment of their ease to implement and ability to increase diversion, and estimates of their costs to implement.

§         Established a Stakeholder Advisory Committee to provide input to the study team over the course of the project.  Met with the Committee four times to discuss development of and then the contents of the draft Discussion Paper.

§         Published notices regarding release of the Discussion Paper and sent it to all public libraries.

§         Held targeted one-on-one, small group, and large stakeholder meetings to present and discuss the Discussion Paper.

§         Conducted a door-to-door and on-line survey of over 100 local businesses concerning a selection of ICI waste management options contained in the Discussion Paper.

§         Provided periodic briefings and working group meetings with the City’s Environmental Advisory Committee and Business Advisory Committee.

§         Held a Councillor briefing and invited elected representatives from Halifax and Vancouver to discuss programs in place in their jurisdictions.

§         Hosted a Waste Forum to discuss options that the public appeared to be gravitating towards.

§         Prepared a status report to Mayor and Council regarding the above activities and next steps.

§         Prepared a Report on Consultation outlining the scope of consultation activities carried out and the range of opinions heard.

§         Considered various strategic approaches and developed a preferred approach using input received during consultations.

§         Finalized waste projections and cost estimates.

§         Drafted Diversion 2020 for public review.

 

The following sections summarize the results of the above consultation program, outline key elements of the draft strategy, and sets out a recommended consultation program and proposed timeline for finalization and adoption of the strategy.

 

Results of Consultation

 

Scores of businesses, institutions, and organizations participated in the consultation process and provided the study team with valuable input that aided in the drafting of the strategy.   Key themes that emerged during the consultation process were:


§  Most individuals and businesses are concerned about the amount of waste that is going to landfill and are prepared to work with waste service providers to increase diversion.

§  Most ICI participants are making an effort to divert waste and were interested in improving their waste management systems.

§  The two most predominant reasons for not recycling are the lack of available recycling services and storage space.

§  A range of solutions is needed that cover not only typical blue and black box items like paper, metals, glass and plastic, but also a number of sector specific products. Waste exchanges, return depots and other similar options resonated with many organizations as they look to increase their diversion rates.

§  There is no consensus about which management options are best or regarding who will pay for their implementation.

§  There was strong interest in various user-pay systems with the proviso that monies collected are used to fund further waste diversion.

§  Many small businesses feel that they are over taxed already, and some businesses that benefited from City pickup of recyclable materials prior to 2004 remain upset at the changes to service provision.

§  Businesses also object to paying business taxes to help support the residential diversion program without receiving any services themselves.

§  Overall the participants felt that ‘the buck must stop with the property and business owners’. Fair and consistent treatment of all building owners, including consistent enforcement of new or existing by-laws will be the key to success.

 

In short, the vast majority of responses heard and received during the consultations were that “something must be done”; and, while the Province has primary jurisdiction in matters of waste management, that the City cannot “do nothing” in response to the pending shortfall in disposal capacity.  It also became evident that most ICI stakeholders felt that the question is not “whether” as a sector they should increase diversion, but “how” increased diversion could be achieved in an equitable and cost effective manner.  Overall, public support was greatest for the following activities:

 

§         Waste Reduction promotional programs;

§         Landfill bans on target materials;

§         Differential tipping fees on target materials

§         Enforcement of Provincial 3Rs Regs as it regulates many target materials;

§         Mandatory Diversion Specifications & LEED® Certification;

 

Complete details regarding the consultation program and feedback received are contained in the January 2008 Report on Consultation.



[1] http://www.ottawa.ca/city_hall/corporate_plan/plan/strategic_plan_en.pdf

http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/ici/documents/task2_summary_en.html

http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/ici/documents/task3_summary_en.html