Weekly newsletter: May 20, 2025
Welcome to this shortened work week!
Please note black bin, green bin, and yard waste collection will be pushed back to Wednesday this week, as Monday was Victoria Day.
That’s Cindy the police dog in the photo above.
Yard waste collection
Collected separately from green bin waste during peak season.
Residents may have noticed their yard waste has been picked up separately from their green bin waste over the last few weeks.
From April to November (“peak season”), yard waste is collected separately from regular green bin due to the volume of yard material generated across the City.
Unlike regular green bin material, yard waste is not hazardous to human health as it decomposes, so it is sent to an outdoor composting pad near the landfill instead of the organics processing facility during those peak months.
Even with additional collection runs and staffing factored in, reducing the volume of yard waste material sent to the processing facility reduces cost, since it just decomposes outdoors.
Starting March 2026, yard waste will be collected separately from green bin material year-round, a change that is expected to reduce organics processing costs by more than 50 per cent.
Yard waste will continue to be collected weekly, but residents are asked to separate it from their green bin materials at the curb, if possible (not mandatory). Green bins can still be used to store yard waste.
In other garbage news, the City is starting to take delivery of brand new waste collection vehicles. They will arrive throughout the rest of the year as the new residential collection contract begins this July.
Vehicles from the current contract, including many that caused the leaks over the last few summers and the rentals that replaced the worst of the leaking trucks, are being retired from service as new vehicles enter service. The timeline for full retirement of the older vehicles is March 2026.
Ottawa Farmers’ Market – Barrhaven
Kicking off the season on May 25th
The 2025 edition of the Ottawa Farmers' Market in Barrhaven↗ returns to the Nepean Woods Park and Ride this Sunday, May 25, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm!
More than 20 local vendors, none more than 100 kilometres from Ottawa and no resellers, will set up weekly at the park and ride until October.
This season, I will also host a bi-weekly booth at the market, space courtesy of the Ottawa Farmers’ Market - Barrhaven. Later in the summer, I’ll also have guests from City services or other community groups at the booth with me.
Next Sunday, June 1, the Barrhaven BIA and Locally Crafted Markets will partner with the farmers’ market to host the second annual spring market.
Some 60 vendors will be on site at the free event with the usual local produce, but also products from Barrhaven businesses and artisan makers from Ottawa and surrounding areas. There will also be entertainment, hot food (for purchase), and activities for kids.
Hope to see you there!
(Grammar note: As the Ottawa Farmers’ Market is an organisation led by the farmers themselves, the plural possessive “farmers’ market” is used when referring to this market.)
Ottawa Race Weekend
The coming weekend will also mark the 2025 edition of the Ottawa Race Weekend. Several road closures↗ will affect traffic and bus service downtown, with Sunday’s closures the wider ranging of the two days.
The race organisers have created a neat interactive map (Saturday map↗, Sunday map↗) that shows which road closures are effective on either day — just make sure to check the “show closures” box.
New this year, OC Transpo will begin service on Line 1 and Line 2 at 5:00 am on Sunday, May 25. Line 1 will operate with double-car trains instead of the usual single-car Sunday arrangement. Night buses will continue operating until 8:00 am as scheduled.
Limited parking is available on City streets, in nearby private lots, and at City Hall.
The inaugural Ottawa Marathon was held in 1975 with 146 runners (143 men, three women) and is now the largest multi-day race event in the country.
Good luck to all participants and volunteers!
Enjoy the week ahead!
-Wilson