On May 19th, CAFES Executive Director Angela Keller-Herzog delivered a public delegation to the Environment and Climate Change Committee (ECCC) on Agenda Item 7.1: Organics Processing Post-2030.
CAFES pointed out that we are at a unique juncture in time when it comes to Ottawa’s organics (green bin) stream of waste. We have the opportunity to design a clean system for the next generation. We are the caretakers of the land, the air and the water.
The status quo falls short on all three fronts:
Air: Over 50% of Ottawa’s residential organics waste still goes to landfill, producing (imperfectly captured) methane which is a potent greenhouse gas. Our present system is also missing the opportunity of diverting organics, and through use of an anaerobic digester (AD) producing renewable natural gas (RNG), which in turn can displace fossil fuel gas.
Soil: Currently the plastic-contaminated output stream from the Convertus aerobic facility that receives our green bin contents does not meet Ontario’s Category AA or A compost standards. Green Bin output is currently regulated as Non-Agricultural Source Material (NASM). It ends up as animal bedding, then in manure, then applied to farmland and cash crops.
Water: The microplastic fragments in the NASM from screened bags then persist in soil an run off into waterways.
CAFES’ two recommendations to the Committee (You can download the full presentation below).
- Strengthen the RFP evaluation criteria to reflect Council-approved climate priorities, including scored criteria for net GHG performance (including avoided fossil emissions from renewable energy) and pathways toward Category AA compost standard output.
- Direct staff to report back within 18 months on a feedstock quality and circular economy strategy for the Green Bin program, covering contamination rates, end-product quality, microplastic monitoring, and pathways to higher-grade outputs that build soil and protect water.
CAFES was extremely pleased that the Committee passed a motion instructing staff to consider the CAFES recommendations in their future work.
In the questions from councillors, Angela also had the opportunity to comment on the recommendations and assumptions of the GHD consultant report that was informing staff on the future of organics procession. The consultants are recommending private sector aerobic composting solutions that are seemingly cost-savings driven. However, Angela pointed out that these conclusions hinged on unreasonable assumptions driving the financial model: free land access, unrealistically low tipping fees into the future, and evaporation of capital costs on the private sector side of the comparison.
Councillors followed up with questions to staff and then Chair of the Committee, Shawn Menard, on behalf of the committee directed staff to consider the feasibility of city-owned organics processing facilities as part of the planning and preparatory work supporting the City’s long-term organics processing strategy.
This may have been one of the most impactful public delegations CAFES has made to date.