Trail Road Landfill Is Filling Up: How Ottawa’s Builders Can Help Buy the City Time
Ottawa’s only municipal landfill, the Trail Waste Facility on Trail Road, has an expiry date — and it’s not some far‑off, abstract problem for the next generation. Based on today’s disposal habits, the City estimates Trail Road could reach capacity as early as 2034–2035, which is well within the lifespan of projects that are being designed, tendered, and built right now.1
City Council’s new Solid Waste Master Plan, approved in June 2024, is essentially a thirty‑year playbook for stretching that remaining landfill space and avoiding a new dump that could cost in the hundreds of millions. The plan counts on a mix of policy changes, new technology, and better diversion to keep as much material as possible out of the ground and in the value chain. That’s the logic behind high‑profile moves like Ottawa’s three‑item garbage limit for households, but also behind quieter shifts such as banning more commercial streams from Trail Road and studying long‑term options like waste‑to‑energy, mixed‑waste processing, or a second landfill site.
Most of the public conversation so far has focused on curbside garbage — how many bags residents can set out and how often. But a huge share of what threatens Trail Road’s remaining airspace doesn’t come from blue bins and green bins; it comes from construction, renovation, and demolition. Across Canada, C&D materials make up a significant proportion of what gets buried each year, even though a large percentage of wood, metal, cardboard, drywall, and concrete could be recovered or recycled instead.
That’s where Ottawa’s builders, developers, and trades have outsized influence. Every time a site defaults to a single “everything” bin, tonnes of recoverable material are effectively locked into the landfill problem. Every time a project plans its waste streams up front, separates the easy‑to‑recycle materials, and works with a hauler that prioritises diversion, it buys the city more time — years, not months — at Trail Road.
Greenway Ottawa Environmental Solutions sits right in the middle of this tension. As a modern, sustainability‑focused dumpster rental and waste disposal company serving both commercial builders and residential clients, Greenway is built around minimising landfill use and maximising material recovery, using government‑approved facilities and compliant processes rather than a “cheapest tip fee wins” approach.
This article looks at seven practical job‑site habits Ottawa’s construction community can adopt right now to keep projects moving, control costs, and help extend the life of the Trail Road landfill — without waiting for a new incinerator, a new landfill, or a new by‑law to force their hand.
Seven job‑site habits that buy Ottawa years of landfill life
- Plan your waste like your schedule: Map each project phase, estimate the main waste streams (wood, concrete, drywall, packaging, etc.), and decide in advance which bins you’ll need, where they’ll sit, and who signs off on pulls.
- Pull out the easy wins: Give high‑volume recyclables — clean wood, metals, cardboard, concrete/brick/asphalt — their own bins or swaps, and keep the mixed bin for true garbage only.
- Make bins do the talking: Use clearly labelled, purpose‑built containers placed where each trade actually works so the “default” choice is the right bin, not the nearest pile.
- Bake diversion into trade contracts: Add simple waste‑separation expectations into subtrade agreements so off‑cuts, metals and packaging don’t automatically end up in mixed waste.
- Do a five‑minute toolbox talk: At site start‑up, quickly walk crews through what goes where, what doesn’t go in certain bins, and who to call before dumping something questionable.
- Right‑size your service: Match bin size and frequency to each phase: smaller, more frequent mixed bins for garbage; dedicated bins or loads for heavy recyclables like concrete, clean fill and wood.
- Choose partners who actually divert: Work with haulers who can show where your material goes and provide basic weights by stream, so you know you’re cutting landfill tonnage, not just moving it around.
What this looks like on a real Ottawa build
Imagine a 6‑storey mid‑rise in Nepean:
- Traditional approach:
- One 40‑yd mixed bin rotated all project long.
- Everything — wood, drywall, plastic, food waste — goes in.
- Result: dozens of heavy, contaminated loads straight to Trail Road.
- Greenway‑style approach:
- Early planning call to map phases and waste streams.
- Concrete/clean fill bin during excavation and foundation.
- Wood & metals bins during framing and structural work.
- Cardboard/plastics staging area near the loading dock during fit‑out.
- A smaller mixed waste bin for true garbage throughout.
Even conservatively, diverting:
- 50% of clean wood
- 80% of metals
- Most cardboard and film
- A large share of concrete/aggregate
Building in Ottawa means owning a piece of the landfill problem
Ottawa is a high‑income, high‑growth city in a country that already tops global charts for waste per person. As the housing and infrastructure boom continues, construction decisions made today will determine whether we need a new landfill tomorrow.
Choosing modern, sustainability‑focused partners is part of that responsibility.
Greenway Ottawa Environmental Solutions combines:
- deep industry experience with major builders,
- a modern, tech‑enabled operation, and
- a clear commitment to minimizing landfill use and maximizing recovery for both commercial and residential clients.