Ottawa·NewThe City of Ottawa says it has the rare chance to buy a functional landfill on Boundary Road that would help address a major waste management problem.City asking for feedback but will not share priceCBC News · Posted: Nov 13, 2025 9:01 AM EST | Last Updated: 28 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.A garbage truck enters Ottawa’s Trail Road landfill in October 2022. The city is going public with talks to buy an existing east-end landfill for when Trail Road reaches capacity. (Jean Delisle/CBC)The City of Ottawa says it has the rare chance to buy a functional landfill that would help address a major waste management problem.Taggart Miller is selling its 192-hectare Capital Region Resource Recovery Centre on Boundary Road near Highway 417 and the city is involved in the bidding process, according to documents set to be presented to councillors at a special committee meeting called for Nov. 21.City staff said buying a landfill rather than building one would save a lot of time and money.”The [landfill] has obtained all major approvals and permits for the site through significant time, resources and capital investments,” said the report.”Taking over 15 years to secure, the value of these cannot be overstated, nor should their rarity be ignored, especially given that Ontario’s available landfilling space is expected to run out within the next decade.”The process that started earlier this year included non-disclosure agreements, the city said. It arranged for exemptions that would allow the city to get public feedback on the idea, either by writing or speaking at that Nov. 21 meeting.Crucially, the cost of taking over the landfill was not disclosed. The city said it wouldn’t release that part of the proposal because of the competitive bidding process.If approved at the Finance and Corporate Services committee, the purchase would go to city council on Nov. 26.Other work underwayOttawa has been watching its southern Trail Road landfill get closer and closer to its capacity and has made changes to delay that, including last year’s three-item limit.City staff have a little over a year left to come back to city councillors with a preferred long-term solution. Its list has been whittled to three options: incineration, continuing to use the current dump alongside a private facility, or creating a new municipal landfill.Creating a new landfill ranked third of those three and would cost between $439 million and $761 million, according to a staff report in June.Building a facility that could burn waste and use the steam for energy could cost between $497 million and $862 million.The cost of using trail and a private landfill would depend on agreements signed with those companies. Staff did not examine buying an existing landfill.
Ottawa in talks to buy east-end landfill
