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Composter may be late for green bin launch

When Ottawa's green bin program launches in January, there are questions about where the waste will go, as the city's new composting plant may not be ready.
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Orgaworld Canada's Ottawa plant is still under construction, but a company spokeman says the facility is expected to be running sometime in January. ((Rebecca Zandbergen/CBC))
When Ottawa's green bin program launches in January, there are questions about where the waste will go because  the city's new composting plant may not be ready.

The city will start collecting kitchen scraps and other organic waste for composting on Jan. 4.

City of Ottawa waste statistics

  • Residents produce 200,000 tonnes of household waste per year.
  • The city hopes to divert 100,000 to 120,000 tonnes per year (50 to 60 per cent) within three years. Of that:
    • The green bin program is expected to divert 70,000 to 80,000 tonnes of waste a year (35 to 40 per cent).
    • The blue and black bin (recycling) programs are expected to divert 30,000 to 50,000 tonnes per year (15 to 25 per cent).

Orgaworld Canada has a 20-year contract with the city to compost 80,000 tonnes of green bin waste a year. The waste would be processed at a $20-million facility it is building at Rideau and Hawthorne roads in Ottawa's southern outskirts.

However, as of Tuesday the building was still under construction, its ventilation system and composting cells not yet complete.

Orgaworld spokesman Dale Harley said the plant is expected to be running sometime in January.

"The final date has not yet been determined," he said. "If the City of Ottawa starts collecting it [organic waste] on Jan. 4 — which I'm sure it will be — and this plant is not 100 per cent ready to receive and process material, we will not be receiving it."

Harley confirmed the company will not store organic waste at the site while it is getting ready.

Coun. Peter Hume, chair of the city's planning and environment committee, said he is concerned about the "speed at which Orgaworld seems to work." However, he added, "I'm expecting them to be prepared to take organic material on the fourth of January when we start delivering it to them."

The city will begin collecting waste through its green bin program on Jan. 4.
If the company is not ready, he said, the city will have to find another location to receive material and Orgaworld may have to pay financial penalties under its contract with the city.

In a memo to city council Tuesday afternoon, Dixon Weir, general manager of environmental services, confirmed that if necessary, organic material picked up from Ottawa homes could be sent to facilities outside Ottawa.

"The contingency plan, if necessary, will be executed within existing funding for the Green Bin Program," the memo said.

Meanwhile, Harley denied the company is required to accept waste on Jan. 4.

"The month of January is the deadline — and council's well aware of this and city staff is well aware of this — for us to start processing," he said.

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