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The City of Ottawa is exploring future options for processing household green bin waste — including the possibility of a city-run facility instead of the current practice of handing material off to a private operator.
Ottawa is currently in a 20-year contract with Convertus, a waste management company that processes the city’s household food waste, soiled paper products, leaf and yard waste, pet waste, and plastic bags. That agreement will end in March 2030.
There are two one-year contract extensions available, but city staff say the city should start looking into long-term solutions now to prevent service disruptions.
In a report presented to the city’s environment and climate change committee on Tuesday, staff recommended the city initially find a private contractor to take on green bin waste for at least a few years beginning in 2030.
Once that term is done, the city could then continue using a private operator or shift to a city-owned waste processing facility, according to the report.
Different processing methods
The city hired the engineering firm GHD Limited to conduct a feasibility study on the potential of an organic waste processing facility.
The study examined five options for a facility with capacity for 60,000 tonnes of organic waste that would be processed using aerobic composting, the method now used by Convertus. It processes organics using oxygen, which causes the material to decompose into a nutrient-rich product.
The second method it explored, anaerobic digestion, would process organic waste without using oxygen to produce biogas. The city’s solid waste master plan, approved in June 2024, asked staff to look at using the “emerging technology” in the future for green bin waste.
“Through this feasibility study, we’ve brought back both technologies as well as both procurement options, so either a city-owned facility or a privately-owned facility,” said Heidi Scott, program manager of compliance and operational planning with the city’s solid waste services department.
The feasibility study found both aerobic composting and anaerobic digestion would help the city achieve its goal of diverting organics from the landfill but that private facilities using either technology would result in the lowest capital costs for the city.
It also identified more costly options for facilities using either technology that could be operated by the city on property near its Trail Road landfill.
Menard speaks at a council committee meeting in late 2025. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
According to staff’s report, further study would be required to examine the possibility of establishing the new organic waste processing facility at the east-end site the city purchased earlier this year.
“With the new [Capital Region Resource Recovery Centre] coming online into the future, there will be options for the municipality,” Coun. Shawn Menard, the committee chair, told CBC following Tuesday’s meeting.
Committee approves city staff recommendations
City staff recommend the city issue a request for proposals seeking private bidders on a five-year contract that would start in 2030, with an option for a five-year extension. Proponents would be able to propose a facility using either aerobic composting or anaerobic digestion to process waste.
Scott says the initial contract would allow staff to continue to look into the possibility of a municipally-owned organic waste processing facility while continuing to deliver green bin service for residents.
The committee accepted staff’s recommendations. It’ll be up to city council to approve them.
“There’s lots of options to look at now and I think committee has done the wise thing here to look at a short-term new contract and then a longer-term option that could include public options as well,” Menard said.
The next meeting of city council is May 27.