Ottawa residents drop more garbage, recycling and green bin waste at the curb during pandemic

City of Ottawa residents place their green bins, recycling, and garbage cans on the side of the street for pick-up on Wednesday, July 9, 2014. (CTV Ottawa)

OTTAWA — Ottawa residents are tossing more items into the green bin during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a briefing on the City of Ottawa’s Solid Waste Master Plan, staff noted there has been “a considerable increase in tonnages of all streams of waste” compared to the same time last year.

For the week of April 6, there was a 333 per cent increase in the amount of items dropped in the green bin compared to the same week in 2019. There was 2,716 more tonnes of waste collected through the green bin program that week.

Staff report the amount of waste collected in the green bin has increased between 32 per cent and 333 per cent a week since the week of March 9.

According to the statistics, the amount of garbage left at the curb was up 25 per cent the week of April 6 compared to the same period in 2019. Staff report 860 more tonnes of waste was thrown out that week.

The amount of recyclable items collected increased 19.8 per cent the week of April 6 compared to the year before. That equals an extra 237 tonnes of items collected.

The amount of garbage, recycling and green bin items collected from Ottawa homes has increased each week since the beginning of March.