CAFES was present at the City of Ottawa's Environment and Climate Change Committee (ECCC) meeting on June 17th, 2025, delivering public delegations to address concerns about solid waste incineration, and misleading fossil fuel advertisements (see presentations below).
On the agenda was a discussion of the recommendations from the Waste Management Technologies Feasibility Study undertaken by consultant HDR. The recommendations called for in-depth evaluation of three waste management scenarios: status quo (Trail Road Landfill) and private facilities; an incineration facility; or a new landfill. The CAFES delegation urged caution in developing incineration facilities, emphasizing that incineration should be at the bottom of the waste management hierarchy, that costs are massive (approaching $1 billion), and the health impacts from air pollution and hazardous ash highly concerning. In her presentation, Angela Keller-Herzog cautioned the audience and questioned many of the assumptions that underlie the consultant study. To end, CAFES called for transparency and meaningful consultation with the public and key stakeholders before making expensive public infrastructure decisions. In particular, CAFES advocated that Ottawa Public Health should be consulted on the terms of reference for the $600K follow-on study that the committee voted for so that health issues cannot just be dismissed by consultants that stand to gain handsomely from follow-on incinerator planning work.
For more information on incineration as a waste management strategy, Waste Watch Ottawa has put together a FAQ with support from CAFES, Ecology Ottawa, and Prevent Cancer Now.
On the agenda item for fossil fuel ads, CAFES argued that misleading fossil fuel ads were inconsistent with the City of Ottawa's climate policies. Ottawa declared a climate emergency in 2019, signed the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, and has a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. CAFES supports the staff recommendation to screen advertisements for greenwashing, and recommends that Council wait until the appeal against the federal government's greenwashing ban has concluded before amending our policy. Councillor Menard's motion to follow legal developments in federal anti-greenwashing laws before making a policy change was ultimately approved with a vote of 10-1.
CAFES joined several local climate and health organizations including Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), Horizon Ottawa, Asthma Canada, and For Our Kids Ottawa in calling for a ban on fossil fuel ads. This followed a recommendation by City staff against the ban in early June.
Check out our delegation presentations below:
