Ottawa’s garbage limits are reducing the amount of waste going to the city’s landfills but some councillors are concerned about rising reports of illegal dumping.
A report presented at the Oct. 21 Environment and Climate Change Committee, which updates the city’s Solid Waste Master Plan, showed a notable reduction in garbage sent to landfill, thanks in part to the three-item trash collection limit.
“This report shows real progress towards our solid waste goals,” said committee chair and Capital Ward Coun. Shawn Menard. “The 15,000-tonne reduction in landfill waste in eight months, the reduction per capita waste going to landfill, 68 per cent of eligible multi-residential buildings now in the green bin program and continuing. These are real testaments of our work of staff.”
City staff emphasized to the committee that the year-old three-item garbage limit has brought a measurable reduction in the volume of garbage sent to the Trail Waste Facility Landfill. It also noted that fewer than one per cent of households exceeded the three-item garbage limit.
The new program allows for exceptions for agricultural waste, special consideration for things such as health waste and the option of purchasing yellow bags to get excess trash collected.
“It’s great to see the stats go down year after year, and a particularly huge dip in 2025, but the million-dollar question is, where is that garbage going? It just didn’t disappear,” said River Ward Coun. Riley Brockington.
“I don’t accept the fact that that reduction just is an automatic reduction in garbage. Some of that garbage still exists,” he said. “It’s either being disposed of in other places or people are hoarding it until they decide what they’re going to do with it.”
Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Rawlson King noted the increase in illegal dumping reported to him by his constituents, who were particularly concerned about abandoned construction waste.
When asked by King about the cost of collecting illegally dumped materials, Solid Waste Services Director Shelley McDonald said no additional resources had to be added to manage additional waste in parks and on roadsides.
Ecology Ottawa Executive Director William van Geest says he welcomes the move to the three-item limit, but notes council could have gone further.
“There’s all sorts of room for increased limits,” he told Capital Current.
“We know that the three-item limit affects only, I think it’s somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent of people,” he said. “Everyone else was compliant already.”
He says he is concerned about illegal dumping.
The report submitted to council noted that, while there has been an increase in reports and call volumes related to illegal dumping, this does not necessarily indicate a rise in such activity, because the reports could be attributed to the streamlined reporting process and greater public awareness.
From October 2024 to August 2025, there were some 1,800 instances of illegal household waste dumping. Only around 100 Notices of Violation were issued.
Approximately 5,200 cases of illegal dumping in parks and street bins were recorded between October 2024 and July 2025, with roughly 100 Notices of Violation issued. Roads Services began tracking incidents in November 2024 and reported 57 instances of illegal dumping up to August 2025, but has not issued any Notices of Violation so far.
Van Geest says that a possible reason for the disparity between reports and violations issued is the high bar of evidence required to prove illegal dumping. He notes better data on locations and occurrences will be critical in cracking down on illegal dumping.
“I think councillors play an important role as kind of liaisons to the community to certainly encourage people to stop legal dumping,” he added.
Previously, the City had a six-item limit on curbside pickup. The new three-item garbage limit was passed in a 2023 motion and formally introduced in September 2024, though the enforcement was phased in over about three months. The policy applies to the 310,000 Ottawa households receiving curbside collection.
A waste item may be up to 140 litres and weigh up to 15 kilograms. Each household can have three compliant items collected and will receive a courtesy tag for any waste that exceeded the limits and couldn’t be collected.
Coun. Brockington’s assumption that the reduced waste is being illegally dumped or “hoarded” suggest that garbage can’t be mitigated in any way. Better choices while shopping and more disciplined use of our recycling and green bin have reduced the amount of garbage our family produces. I’m sure our family isn’t the only one to do this. Perhaps you can’t avoid producing any garbage, but you can reduce it and this success (although not definitive) proves it.