City Council Agenda - November 26, 2012 - City of Guelph

COMMITTEEREPORTTOPlanning & Building, Engineering and EnvironmentCommitteeSERVICE AREA Planning, Building, Engineering and EnvironmentDATE November 19, 2012SUBJECTWaste Management By-law AmendmentREPORT NUMBER________________________________________________________________________________________________________SUMMARYPurpose of Report:To obtain Council approval to amend By-law Number (2011)-19199 WasteManagement By-law to allow certified compostable bags as liners for the organicwaste carts.Council Action:To amend By-law Number (2011)-19199 Waste Management By-law to allowcertified compostable bags as liners for the organic waste carts.RECOMMENDATION“THAT Council approve and enact amendment to By-law (2011)-19199: WasteManagement By-law.”BACKGROUNDIn the Fall 2009, the City began building a state-of-the-art Organic WasteProcessing Facility (OWPF) to process Guelph’s wet waste stream (organic waste)into clean, nutrient-rich compost.To operate the OWPF, the City must comply with conditions set by the Ministry ofthe Environment (MOE). One such condition in the Environmental ComplianceApproval (ECA) was that the OWPF could not accept organic waste collected inplastic bags or certified compostable plastic bags. This condition was added to theOWPF’s ECA in August 2010.At that time, the MOE indicated that if the Ottawa-based organic processing facility,Orgaworld Canada Ltd., was successful in its appeal of a similar ECA condition,Guelph would be granted a similar amendment.On August 30, 2010, Council approved a City staff recommendation to convertGuelph’s current manual, bag-based collection system called WetDry+ to anPage 1 of 5CITY OF GUELPH COMMITTEE REPORT