The City of Ottawa is conductig a pilot recycling program for city parks in response to a city council member’s recent inquiry about the way the city dumps its trash.
“Current waste management practices along pathways do not include the ability to recycle,” says a staff report presented at a recent environmental committee meeting.
“The (public works) department is working with the environmental services department to implement a pilot program for waste recycling in parks.”
But the pilot is still very “preliminary,” Jocelyne Turner, a city media relations officer, said in an email. Starting next year, the city will begin installing trail recycling bins in selected parks and beaches.
User groups who rent city space will also be forced to recycle and pay for removal under new rental agreements – also scheduled for next year, Turner said.
A new recycling program is beneficial as more than 50 per cent of landfill waste is actually recyclable, according to local green group Ecology Ottawa.
“In general, they are trying to increase their diversion rates . . . (and) anything we can divert is good,” says policy co-ordintaor Trevor Haché. “Anything to keep city products out of landfill is better.”
The City of Ottawa has earned about $8 million from selling recycling materials after the introduction of blue and black bins in residential homes.
Accordingly, the pilot project will determine if money made from recycling will be enough for park recycling bins, Turner says.
“The city will have to run a cost-benefit analysis, but it would make complete sense to add recycling programs,” says Haché.
The public works department maintains 5,000 waste bins but they aren’t used during winter because these spaces aren’t maintained. Instead, trash is picked up in the beginning of spring by staff using garbage trucks.
The report, however, points out that these trucks don’t have recycling capacity. This means the city would have to pay for new trucks or to retrofit the ones it has.
“It is hoped that costs saving derived from (recycling) and revenues generated by sale of recycling materials will offset the budget impacts for recycling in parks,” says Turner.
Others, such as Bonnie Mabee, a member of the Centretown Citizens Community Association’s trees and green space committee, however, are skeptical about the pilot project.
“The city does not do a good job about letting people know what goes in the bins,” she says. “Clear education about recycling is key and I feel a failing on the part of the city.”
Non-recyclable items such as coffee cups or pizza boxes end up in recycling bins, so the city ends up paying a lot more because recycling companies need extra resources to sort out the waste, says Mabee.
“I don’t think putting recycling bins along paths is the key – you have to strategically place it or it won’t be worth it,” she says.