Every municipal and provincial change that makes a tenant handbook wrong, logged with the date, the stage it affects, and what a building should now be telling residents.
Why this exists
The hardest part of resident information isn't writing it — it's noticing when something underneath it changed. Municipalities and provinces alter waste programmes, prescribed forms, fee rules and eligibility criteria on their own schedules, and nobody tells the buildings. This log is the mechanism, published openly. Verified as at 9 August 2026.
New curbside collection contract — leaf and yard waste separated from the green bin
Ottawa · Ontario
A new curbside waste collection contract took effect across Ottawa. Among the operational changes, leaf and yard waste must now be set out separately from the green bin rather than combined with it.
Stage affected
E12 First week · E15 Seasonal change · E20 Building change
What to say now
Any seasonal briefing or waste signage that tells residents to combine yard waste with organics is now wrong. Check the autumn briefing before it goes out.
Source
City of Ottawa solid waste program information, 2026
Residential recycling moved from the City to the provincial producer programme
Ottawa · Ontario
The City of Ottawa stopped collecting residential recycling. Blue and black bin collection and processing transferred to Circular Materials, the producer responsibility organisation, with Miller Waste as its Ottawa collection contractor, under Ontario’s Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act. The City continues to manage garbage, green bin, and leaf and yard waste collection. The accepted materials list expanded at the same time to include hot and cold beverage cups, flexible plastic packaging such as bags and bubble wrap, foam packaging, black plastic containers, and tubes such as toothpaste and deodorant.
Stage affected
E12 First week · E20 Building change
What to say now
Name Circular Materials as the operator of the recycling stream and Miller Waste as the collector — not the City. Republish the accepted materials list with a date, because it grew. State clearly that garbage and organics remain City services, or residents will assume everything moved. Give both contacts: Miller Waste 1-888-852-2374 for collection problems, Circular Materials 1-877-667-2626 for the programme and accepted materials.
Source
City of Ottawa newsroom, 2 January 2026; CBC Ottawa, 1 January 2026; circularmaterials.ca/Ottawa
Newer buildings — and any building already on private collection — excluded until 2031
Ottawa · Ontario
On 4 September 2025 the Province finalised amendments to the Blue Box Regulation deferring expanded recycling collection for multi-residential buildings, schools and certain care homes without prior municipal blue box service until 2031. Buildings already receiving municipal recycling continue to be served under the producer programme. Buildings that use private waste collection, and any multi-residential building of six or more units ready for occupancy from 2026 onward, do not qualify for producer-funded Blue Box service until 2031 and must hold an active private recycling contract before the City will approve them for garbage collection.
Stage affected
E12 First week · E20 Building change
What to say now
This is not only about new builds — any building already on private collection is in the same position. State which arrangement applies to this specific building, name the private contractor if there is one, and never reuse waste content across buildings without checking both the occupancy date and the existing collection arrangement.
Source
City of Ottawa Public Works memorandum, 8 December 2025; Superintendent’s Handbook
Solid Waste Services By-law 2024-453 — green bin participation made a condition of City collection
Ottawa · Ontario
Council enacted By-law 2024-453, since amended by By-laws 2025-467 and 2026-247. It requires that no owner of an eligible multi-residential property receiving municipal containerized collection may fail to participate in the green bin organics programme. It also requires every multi-residential property to enter a Customer Service Agreement with the City, and to facilitate an on-site inspection, before municipal collection can begin. The same by-law reduced the curbside bulky and garbage item limit from six to three.
Stage affected
E12 First week · E23 Move-out preparation
What to say now
Organics participation is an obligation, not an amenity — say so. Cover the practical questions residents actually ask: plastic bags are an accepted bagging option, compostable bags are not required, and pet waste including litter is accepted. Where a building is still being onboarded, say which tier and when.
Source
City of Ottawa By-law No. 2024-453 as amended; Multi-Residential Waste Diversion Strategy
Multi-residential organics onboarding is still in progress, tier by tier
Ottawa · Ontario
Roughly 2,150 to 2,400 multi-residential properties receive City waste collection in Ottawa. Waste audits found that about 74 per cent of what those properties discard goes in the garbage, and 58 per cent of that could have been diverted. Properties not yet on the organics programme are classified into tiers by collection frequency and size, and are being onboarded in phases from autumn 2024 through winter 2028.
Stage affected
E12 First week · E20 Building change
What to say now
If your building is not yet on the green bin programme, it will be. Tell residents when, rather than letting the bins appear one morning with no explanation — an unexplained new stream is the fastest route to contamination.
Tenant Information Package no longer required where the standard lease is used
Ontario
Landlords are no longer required to provide the Landlord and Tenant Board’s Information for New Tenants package, provided the Ontario Standard Form of Lease has been used. Where a standard lease is not used, the obligation to give new tenants information about rights, responsibilities and the role of the Board remains.
Stage affected
E05 Lease execution
What to say now
If you use the standard lease, the separate package is not required — but the underlying information still has to reach the resident somewhere, and a lease is not an explanation.
Source
Landlord’s Self Help Centre; Tribunals Ontario
Standard Form of Lease became mandatory for most new tenancies
Ontario
Most residential tenancy agreements entered into on or after this date must use the government’s Standard Form of Lease. A signed copy must be given to the tenant within 21 days. Where a landlord fails to provide the standard lease after a written request, the tenant may withhold one month’s rent.
Stage affected
E05 Lease execution
What to say now
Confirm the 21-day delivery is actually happening and is evidenced. This is the highest statutory-risk item in the whole lifecycle, and it fails quietly.
Source
Tribunals Ontario, A Guide to the Residential Tenancies Act
Corrections and additions
This log covers Ottawa and Ontario at Edition 1.0. If something is missing, wrong, or has changed since the verification date above, that's worth knowing — the whole premise of this log is that information decays, so a correction is the system working rather than failing.