Audit of city's Orgaworld contract not expected until fall

A long-awaited audit of the controversial deal between the City of Ottawa and Orgaworld won't be released until an ongoing commercial arbitration process ends, likely in the fall.

Orgaworld is the company contracted to compost Ottawa's green bin waste.

The news comes in a memo from city clerk and solicitor, Rick O'Connor. It's a response to a query from the chair of the environment committee, Maria McRae, who, like many residents, has expressed frustration over the lack of public information on the file.

"It's completely frustrating that an audit I called for in February 2011 might not be released for a thousand days from the day that I called it," said McRae.

The dispute resolution process between the two parties is confidential, and therefore city managers have been unable to provide their input.

"I know why we have to go through this process but I feel frustrated that we're not going to get that information out there," she said.

At the centre of the dispute are two differing views on what types of material the organics recycling company can and should accept.

The city believes Orgaworld should take leaf and yard waste combined with other green-bin compost. It also believes the company is allowed to truck in organic waste from the industrial and commercial sectors, not just household waste. The company disagrees with both points.

At the same time, the city's auditor general, Alain Lalonde, is investigating the contract between the City and Orgaworld.

Specifically, he's investigating why the city is paying the company $8 million a year to accept 80,000 tonnes of waste, when last year's total only reached about 56,000 tonnes.