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Two landfills serving Ottawa businesses are looking to expand their operations.
Call for mandatory recycling of business waste
May 2008
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 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.
To see a copy of our new greenprint on mandatory recycling for business and institutional waste, click here.
Call on city council to support a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining
February 2008
On February 7, 2008 the city's Community and Protective Services Committee unanimously endorsed a moratorium on the exploration and mining of uranium in Eastern Ontario. Members of the committee were given the petition
sponsored by the Ottawa Coalition Against Mining Uranium (OCAMU) and
Ecology Ottawa. Approximately 1500 people had signed the petition, from
all wards in the city of Ottawa. And it made a difference!
Now the motion will now go to the full city council on February 27 and
we must ensure the full city council supports the endorsement of the
committee for a moratorium.
Please write to your councillors before the council meeting on February 27, and call on the City of Ottawa to declare its support for an immediate moratorium on uranium exploration and mining in Eastern Ontario.
Related links:
City Councillors' contact information: http://www.ottawa.ca/city_hall/mayor_council/councillors/index_en.html
Additional information on uranium exploration in Eastern Ontario and previous petition
Report to Community and Protective Services Committee, January 18, 2008
Ecology Ottawa statement to the Community and Protective Services Committee February 7, 2008
Tell city council to make environment a priority in 2007 budget
November 2006
290 to 340 : number of premature deaths in Ottawa every year due to air pollution [1]
750 : number of hospital admissions every year in Ottawa due to air pollution
$80 million : direct health costs from air pollution in Ottawa each year
22 : number of air quality monitoring stations in Vancouver
1 : number of air quality monitoring stations in Ottawa
20% by 2005 : greenhouse gas emissions reduction target adopted by Ottawa (region) in 1997
25% : increase in Ottawa’s greenhouse gas emissions between 1997 and 2005
33 : percentage of household waste diverted from landfill in Ottawa
70 : percentage of household waste diverted from landfill in Markham
$1.25 million : funding for air quality, energy efficiency and environmental stewardship initiatives removed from the City of Ottawa's 2006 budget
In recent years, Ottawa has done a lot of planning for environmental sustainability. Our city’s official blueprint for growth – Ottawa 20/20 – includes an 87 page Environmental Strategy that covers everything from groundwater protection to soil erosion, from urban sprawl to brownfields, from climate change and air quality to pesticides, biodiversity and forest health. We have an Air Quality and Climate Change Management Plan that proposes both a Corporate (City of Ottawa) and Community target for greenhouse gas emission reductions. It outlines the measures the City should take to reach these targets. When it comes to environmental sustainability, there doesn’t seem to be much we haven’t thought of.
Trouble is, that seems to be about all we’ve been doing – thinking, and planning. The leap from planning to action requires resources, which our City Council has not been willing to provide. City Councillors are happy to approve environmental plans and promises, but not enough of them have been willing to put their money where their mouths are.
The Air Quality and Climate Change Management Plan has been drastically under-funded, as have other projects approved by Council. Last year, Council cut almost $1.3 million in environmental initiatives from its budget. When the budget gets tight, our City Council seems to think our environmental programmes should be the first to go.
We think our environment matters. With the canal and outdoor rinks still closed, it's clear to us we need to take action. But we think Council needs a little push – a reminder that we are watching, and that we care about our environment and our health. And that we want them to invest in our environment and our health.
Join us in asking our new City Council to uphold its environmental commitments, and to allocate the resources necessary to make Ottawa the green capital of Canada.
Sign the Green Budget Petition. Click here for further actions you can take.
For additional information, see:
- Ottawa Life article "Ottawa: Moving Towards a Green Steady-State" by Patrick Quealey
[1] Studies by Ontario Medical Association (OMA), Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, McMaster University's Department of Medicine, Environment Canada and Health Canada
Picture taken January 14th: Where are all the skaters?
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