Ottawa looking to expand Trail Road landfill in a bid to extend life of municipal dump 15 years

A truck leaves the Trail Road Landfill on Tuesday, March 18. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa)

The City of Ottawa is looking to expand the Trail Road landfill to accept more garbage within its existing property limits, as part of a plan to extend the life of the municipal dump another 15 years.

The city has launched an environmental assessment under the Environmental Assessment Act for a “short-term expansion” of the landfill on Trail Road in the city’s southwest end. According to the city, the Trail Road landfill has an approved landfilling capacity of 16.9 million cubic metres.

The proposed expansion would target an additional 5.5 million cubic metres of additional airspace for garbage to extend the life of the Trail Road landfill from 2034 to 2048.

A public meeting will be held Wednesday at South Carleton High School to discuss the proposed “optimizations” to the Trail Waste Landfill, including expanding waste capacity. The open house will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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The Trail Road Landfill primarily accepts Ottawa’s curbside residential waste. It also accepts some waste from public facilities, multi-residential buildings and from drop-offs by the public. The landfill is expected to reach capacity in 2034.

The city says the first phase of the environmental assessment for a short-term expansion of the Trial Road Landfill includes preparing the terms of reference.

While the city of Ottawa explores building a new landfill or other technologies to deal with the city’s waste, Council approved several measures in a bid to reduce waste heading to the dump and extend the life of the landfill.

Last year, the city implemented a new three-item limit on household garbage, with additional items required to be in a yellow bag purchased from the city. The new Solid Waste Management Plan, approved by Council last June, includes banning waste from the Trail Road Landfill and redirecting a portion of the waste to private landfills.

The Solid Waste Master Plan says the city needs provincial approval to expand the Trail Waste Facility Landfill within its existing footprint.

“Action will work alongside reduction and diversion actions to expand life of this asset in the short and medium term to provide City time to implement a longer-term residual waste management solution,” the report says.

According to the Solid Waste Master Plan, expanding the Trail Road Waste Facility will cost less than $50 million, while operating costs will be over $1 million.

A public survey as part of the Solid Waste Master Plan found 67 per cent of respondents said “all reasonable efforts should be made to extend the life of landfill,” while 40 per cent supported expanding the landfill within the current property on Trail Road.