The City of Ottawa has a few holes in its enforcement of the new three-item garbage limit and should establish an education and enforcement framework to ensure garbage collectors and residents comply with the rules, according to the auditor general. Auditor General Nathalie Gougeon and her team conducted an audit of the curbside garbage collection between Jan. 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026. The audit looked at the collection activities performed by in-house collection teams and contractors and the monitoring and enforcement of the new three-item garbage limit. Auditors monitored garbage collection in all three zones between May and June. Gougeon says of the 21 test cases observed, there were only two instances where the collectors took “appropriate action” to deal with households exceeding the three-item limit. “In the other nineteen (19) cases, collectors collected ineligible garbage left at the curb by residents or did not issue a courtesy tag to the resident as required by operational guidance and the curbside collection contract,” the audit said. “Examples observed included several instances where the three-item limit was exceeded and all garbage was picked up, as well as paint cans that were collected despite not being eligible for collection under the Bylaw.” According to the auditor general, the Collection Operation Procedure Manual provided to all collectors as guidance that is not “fully aligned in defining item-level collection requirements” in the Solid Waste Bylaw. Gougeon notes the bylaw provides an itemized schedule of acceptable bulky item, while the Collector Manual defines bulky items “broadly as acceptable waste items not fitting in a container.” “When operational guidance is outdated, inconsistent, or not clearly understood by collectors, there is a risk that curbside garbage collection decisions will be applied inconsistently and/or incorrectly,” the report said. “This has a direct impact on the effectiveness of the City’s waste reduction and diversion initiatives and hinders its ability to deliver services in a consistent manner.” The auditor general also found “compliance and enforcement tools” to enforce the three-item limit are “infrequently used to address recurring non-compliance by contractors or residents.” Between Jan 1, 2025, and May 27, 2026, 1,962 homes were tagged for exceeding the three-item garbage limit, but the report says the information has not been used to “trigger inspector action, such as additional education or escalation measures.” Since January 2025, only one contractor was sanctioned for failure to use the courtesy tags for items over the limit, at a cost of $282. City staff accept all eight of the auditor general’s recommendations, which include:
