This past Wednesday, the Ottawa city council announced their approval to allow plastic bags and dog feces in green bins starting around mid-2019. The 19-3 vote represents the city’s attempt at increasing the use of green bins throughout the Ottawa area community. Already, a surprising 51% of the Ottawa community utilizes the city compost services but the city feels with this change we could see this percentage increase. The proposed dog feces and plastic bag plan will cost approximately $626,000 annually for the city. Which when broken down, this is an increase of approximately $1.80 in annual taxes per household. While the funding for these changes will be expected to come out of Ottawa resident’s pockets, this new regulation will remove many common excuses said to deter residents from using their green bins, such as the fear of unpleasant smells or maggots.

With the city’s new plans, there is much speculation regarding the ability to break down and remove the plastic from the dog bags and food scraps. Orgaworld Canada Ltd., who has been processing Ottawa’s biodegradable waste since 2010, is confident that they have the proper technology to safely remove plastic particles from our soon to be soil fertilizer. With the proper technology in tow, could this mark the beginning of a major mass composting trend within Ottawa?

While these new city plans sound highly likely to increase green bin use we wanted to highlight another local city which saw great success in reducing illegal dog waste, through a different nature. To deter the illegal dumping of public dog feces the City of Guelph enforced stricter “poop and scoop” laws with offenders looking at fines upwards of $5,000. While we all know Ottawa is a very dog-friendly city, what are your thoughts on the implementation of higher “poop and scoop” fines to offset the additional cost of plastic bags and dog feces in the green bin? With the potential to offset the additional cost of Ottawa’s new green bin project maybe higher fines might not be that bad of an idea.

What are your thoughts on this hot topic? We want to hear from you! Leave your opinion and questions in the comments section below.

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