Yellow bags now available for residents who want to stretch Ottawa's new garbage limit

The new yellow garbage bags needed to leave more than three items on pick-up days in Ottawa are now for sale at about 30 locations, the city says.

A three-item garbage limit every two weeks started at the end of September. Residents who want to exceed it must buy the yellow bags, sold in packs of four for $17.60, or $4.40 each.

There's no limit on recycling or compost bins, provided they're properly used.

The city said in a news release Monday the bags are now for sale at 11 hardware stores, 13 community centres and all six client service centres.

Starting Monday, Nov. 4, residents who leave more than three items without using the yellow bags will find one item left at the curb with a tag attached explaining the new limit. Starting in December, everything over the limit will be left behind.

• What are you seeing in the first weeks ofthe new garbage limit? Please send us an emailand a reporter may follow up.

City council voted in favour of dropping itslimit from six itemsin June 2023after a proposed bag-tagging system proved unpopular among residents.

The city is working tocut the amount of waste heading tothe rapidly swelling Trail Road landfillandextend its lifespan before it can cement a plan for handling future trash. It says more than half the waste that ends up there could be recycled, composted or reused.