How much residential garbage is diverted away from landfill sites?
In 2005, the City collected 310,879 tonnes of solid waste from residential households – an average of 890 kilograms per household. Of this, 32.3% was diverted, largely through recycling and composting of leaf and yard waste. Recycling represents about two-thirds of the diverted materials with leaf and yard waste representing the remaining third. This graph compares the percentage of residential garbage that was diverted from landfill sites in 2005. The higher the bar, the more garbage was recycled or kept out of the landfill site. Ottawa’s diversion rate was similar to the municipalities of Hamilton and York. However, Ottawa is falling behind these and other municipalities as they roll out source-separated organics collection programs. An increase in Ottawa’s diversion rate will come primarily from the expansion of the organics collection pilot program to a full citywide program in 2009.