Ottawa Mayor Bob Chiarelli says the city should take control of its garbage, and he's daring anyone to sue.

Chiarelli decided to take matters into his own hands at the council meeting Wednesday in a moment of frustration with what he sees as a lack of action by the province.

"People want us to be more aggressive on environmental issues, and I think we should do it at the risk of being challenged by someone," Chiarelli told the Ottawa Citizen.

Even if, as city lawyers warned, it is not officially the city's business.

Ottawa is, admittedly, responsible for residential garbage, but that accounts for only 30 per cent of the total. The rest of Ottawa's trash comes from industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) users, and they fit under provincial jurisdiction.

Chiarelli is incensed because only 17 per cent of the so-called ICI garbage is recycled, compared to 30 per cent of the residential trash.

Ottawa has been urging Ontario for months to take control of ICI garbage, and force more of it through the recycling bins.

But Chiarelli says he's running out of patience with Queen's Park.

He told city council Wednesday that Ottawa has the right to move in and take control under a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision concerning pesticides in Hudson, Que. The Supreme Court said municipalities can take over a provincial jurisdiction — without the province's permission — if the senior government isn't doing its job.

"I believe we have the authority under the Supreme Court ruling … to regulate and legislate the industrial, commercial and institutional sector," Chiarelli said.

The mayor cited the Supreme Court decision during a debate over an application by two privately operated garbage companies that want to expand their Ottawa-area dumps.

Waste Services Inc., a multinational based in Burlington, Ont., claims the right to double the size of its Navan Road landfill site, south of Orleans, Ont. Rival Waste Management Inc. of Houston, Tex., intends to triple the size of its site on Carp Road, over Chiarelli's objections.

Those two companies have threatened legal action if Ottawa stands in the way of their proposed expansions.

Ottawa is taking their threat seriously. Councillors put $250,000 into a legal war chest just in case the matter does end up in court.