Call for mandatory recycling of business waste

Did you know that the vast majority of Ottawa's waste -- 60 to 70 percent -- is produced not by households, but by local businesses, institutions, and industry? And less than a fifth of this waste is recycled!

This means that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of recyclable material are being dumped into local landfills every year. We need your help to turn this around.

Ecology Ottawa just released a position paper, or "greenprint", calling on city hall to adopt a mandatory recycling by-law for businesses and institutions. This is one of several options being considered by the city in its draft waste strategy that is scheduled to be tabled at the city's Planning and Environment Committee in the coming weeks.

Please take a minute out of your busy schedule to let the city know what you think. Send a short email to ici@ottawa.ca. Let them know that you support mandatory recycling for businesses, and copy your message to Peter Hume, chair of the Planning and Environment Committee, at Peter.Hume@ottawa.ca.

For more information, check out our "greenprint" on mandatory recycling for business and institutional waste, part of a series of policy proposals for a sustainable Ottawa:

Greenprint_ICI_recycling.pdf