Members Only Articles

The  Ontario Waste Management Association’s (OWMA) recommendations to the Ontario government on boosting investment and employment in Ontario’s Waste Management Sector by modernizing key regulatory and legislative provisions include the following:

1.  Establish an exemption from waste management approvals for facilities that received source separated recyclable materials, by clarifying and amending section 5 of O. Reg 101/94, and Regulation 347 under the Environmental Protection Act.

2.  Create a new unique waste class code for hazardous waste debris under R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 347, under the Environmental Protection Act, and establish a standardized form for waste transfer facilities to utilize for the annual reporting of the inbound and outbound volumes of hazardous waste materials under the new digital hazardous waste registry.

3.  Repeal the Schedule 6 development approval requirements in Bill 197, The COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act, 2020, referencing adjacent municipalities, and maintain that only a ‘host’ municipality be empowered to approve landfills within their jurisdiction.

4.  Reform Ontario’s outdated Financial Assurance Guideline (under Part XII of the Environmental Protection Act) to recognize the low-level of environmental risk of waste facilities, and reduce costs for waste operators who have provided over $500 million in financial assurance funds to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation & Parks.

This morning, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued direction to RPRA and Stewardship Ontario to begin to transition the management of Ontario’s Blue Box Program to producers of plastic and other packaging. This will enable the transition of materials collected under the program to individual producer responsibility under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016.

 The Minister’s direction letters are attached to this email.

The Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) will oversee the wind up of current waste diversion programs and the industry funding organizations responsible for managing those programs.

During the transition, Stewardship Ontario (SO) will continue to operate the Blue Box program without disruption. Stewardship Ontario, which manages the current Blue Box Program, will submit a plan to the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority by June 30, 2020. The Blue Box Program will begin preparing for transition once the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority approves the plan, no later than December 31, 2020.

The plan will also establish a 3-year period in which municipalities will no longer be eligible to receive funding under the SO Program, starting on January 1, 2023 and ending on December 31, 2025, which is the date that SO Program will end and the new producer responsibility framework will be fully implemented.

The Minister also stated there will be further consultations as the Regulation is developed, and that stakeholders, including stewards, municipalities and service providers (e.g. collectors, haulers, processors, recycled product manufacturers) will receive transparent and clear communications from SO on a regular basis during development and implementation of the plan.

For more information, contact:
Mike Chopowick, Director of Policy & Communications
mchopowick@owma.org

The OWMA supports the provincial government’s decision to pursue a modern renewable fuel standard (RFS) for gasoline, but maintains that a future regulation must include clear incentives for renewable natural gas (RNG).

The association sent its comments in a letter to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) on March 12 in response to the provincial government’s Discussion Paper: Developing a Modern Renewable Fuel Standard for Gasoline in Ontario, which was released on Jan. 11.

The paper discusses creating a standard to require fossil fuel suppliers to “reduce the lifecycle carbon intensity of the transportation fuels they sell each year” to support the province’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from gasoline by 5% by 2020.  

To meet government-set targets, fuel suppliers could either increase the proportion of biofuels contained in gasoline, including cellulosic ethanol, or purchase credits to offset fossil fuel emissions with investments in low-carbon technologies, such as systems to convert methane into RNG.

Methane, harnessed from wastewater treatment facilities, biogas plants and landfill-gas systems, has long played a role in the waste management industry to generate electricity and create pipeline-quality RNG that can fuel waste collection fleets.

The OWMA believes the inclusion of RNG crediting within the RFS would not only help petroleum producers meet regulatory requirements, but would also encourage more fleet operators to switch from diesel to RNG, and, in turn, reduce GHG emissions

Taking this direction will also help Ontario eventually move toward a more comprehensive low-carbon fuel standard that includes all transportation fuels. To read the OWMA’s letter, click here.

The Michigan government released its 2016 Landfill Report last week, which shows steady growth in the number of waste shipments from Ontario to the state’s disposal sites.  

The full report, which can be accessed here, found that waste imports into Michigan from Ontario were up 9.8% in 2016. Over a four-year time period, the increase is even larger. Since 2012, waste imported into the state from Ontario has risen by 31% to roughly 2.7 million tonnes. 

This uptick includes increased shipments of industrial, commercial, construction and demolition waste (with the latter two categories representing the largest percentage change). 

The findings of the Michigan Landfill Report illustrate why it’s crucial for Ontario policymakers to carefully consider the movement of waste between jurisdictions before pursuing new policies and regulations that could have an unintended effect on the market.

Our association is continuing to work with our American counterpart, the National Waste & Recycling Association, to assess what impacts the Trump Administration may have on Canadian-American trade and cross-border shipments. Although we have not identified any immediate concerns, the OWMA is monitoring the situation closely.

New waste shipment numbers for New York and Ohio have not yet been released, but the below table shows the general trends of all waste shipments into the United States from Ontario.

Ontario is steadily advancing toward a circular economy. The government has already taken steps to reform existing recycling programs and has laid out its Waste-Free Ontario Strategy to guide the province’s path toward a diversion rate of 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. Achieving these goals, however, will require a comprehensive plan to tackle organic waste.

Every year, Ontarians generate more than 12 million tonnes of garbage, which is enough to fill the Rogers Centre nearly 16 times. About a third of that number, or roughly four million tonnes, is organic waste.

Throwing out such a large amount of organic materials not only represents a lost opportunity for Ontario to create jobs and growth in the circular economy, but it also generates a significant amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the province.

With roughly 5% of GHG emissions coming from disposal, Ontario must increase organics diversion to meet its climate change goals and advance toward a more circular economy.

Moving in this direction will better protect our environment and promote job creation by opening up new markets for recovered organic waste, which can be used to generate biogas energy and create compost or other amendments to enrich soil on farms.

Ontario government places priority on organics diversion

To facilitate Ontario’s transition to a circular economy, the government has already taken action in several areas that the Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) has advocated for in our ReThink Organic Waste paper in 2015 and in our most recent submission to the government.

First, the government has announced that it intends to release a Food Waste and Organics Action Plan by the spring of 2018. To assist with the development of this plan, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change has established a working group of producers and waste management service providers to help set standards, timelines and responsibilities for the reduction and diversion of organic waste.

Second, the government is working with the Climate Action Reserve to adapt existing protocols under the Western Climate Initiative to govern the sale and trading of offset credits for organics diversion within the province’s cap-and-trade market. These offset credits will provide a financial incentive to invest in the compost and biogas sectors.

Third, the government intends to develop a policy statement to complement its plan to reduce and divert organic waste in advance of introducing a food waste disposal ban.

For the government to achieve all these goals, several regulatory and policy changes still must be made.

Transitioning to a circular economy for organic waste

As an active member of the province’s organics working group, the OWMA has highlighted the need for more processing capacity in Ontario.

In the OWMA’s State of Waste in Ontario: Organics Report, which was released last year, we determined that 1.4 million tonnes of Ontario’s organic waste is currently being processed while more than 2 million tonnes is not.

That means Ontario will require significantly more processing capacity to achieve the government’s potential targets of 40% organics diversion by 2025 and 60% by 2035.  

Currently, our research shows Ontario has a total of 76 organics processing facilities, or 41 compost and 35 anaerobic digestion facilities.

To increase the province’s processing capacity, the OWMA has outlined steps that must be a part of the government’s strategy.

First, the government must reduce the regulatory burden for organic processing facilities while maintaining the highest level of environmental protection. Ontario businesses can wait up to 300 days to get a standard environmental approval required to develop or upgrade a facility. These delays must be reduced to attract further investment in processing facilities.

Second, the government should encourage the best use of organic materials by introducing new policy tools, such as disposal bans, disposal levies and, potentially, extended producer responsibility programs.

Finally, the government should align its climate and energy policies, which includes those for offset credits and renewable natural gas. Reducing regulatory overlap and ensuring policies complement, not conflict, with one another will play an essential role in encouraging the required investment to build the processing capacity Ontario needs to achieve its waste diversion and climate change goals.

Today, Environment Minister Rod Phillips released Ontario’s Environment Plan. The plan is broad in scope and includes the government’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The plan outlines the government policy direction on waste management for Ontario. Specific action items that will be of interest to OWMA members include:

Reduce and divert food and organic waste from households and businesses

• Expand green bin or similar collection systems in large cities and to relevant businesses.
• Develop a proposal to ban food waste from landfill and consult with key partners such as municipalities, businesses and the waste industry.
• Educate the public and business about reducing and diverting food and organic waste.
• Develop best practices for safe food donation.

Reduce plastic waste

• Work with other provinces, territories and the federal government to develop a plastics strategy to reduce plastic waste and limit micro-plastics that can end up in our lakes and rivers.  
• Seek federal commitment to implement national standards that address recyclability and labelling for plastic products and packaging to reduce the cost of recycling in Ontario.
• Work to ensure the Great Lakes and other inland waters are included in national and international agreements, charters and strategies that deal with plastic waste in the environment. 

Reduce litter in our neighbourhoods and parks

• Our environment plan reflects our government’s commitment to keep our neighbourhoods, parks and waterways clean and free of litter and waste. When Ontarians walk their dog or take their children to the park they expect their time outdoors to be litter-free.
• Work with municipal partners to take strong action against those who illegally dump waste or litter in our neighbourhoods, parks and coastal areas.
• Develop future conservation leaders through supporting programs that will actively clean up litter in Ontario’s green spaces, including provincial parks, conservation areas and municipalities.
• Connect students with recognized organizations that encourage environmental stewardship so they could earn volunteer hours by cleaning up parks, planting trees and participating in other conservation initiatives.

Increase opportunities for Ontarians to participate in waste reduction efforts

• Work with municipalities and producers to provide more consistency across the province regarding what can and cannot be accepted in the Blue Box program.
• Explore additional opportunities to reduce and recycle waste in our businesses and institutions.
• Make producers responsible for the waste generated from their products and packaging
• Move Ontario’s existing waste diversion programs to the producer responsibility model. This will provide relief for taxpayers and make producers of packaging and products more efficient by better connecting them with the markets that recycle what they produce. 

Explore opportunities to recover the value of resources in waste

• Investigate options to recover resources from waste, such as chemical recycling or thermal treatment, which have an important role – along with reduction, reuse and recycling – in ensuring that the valuable resources in waste do not end up in landfills.
• Encourage increased recycling and new projects or technologies that recover the value of waste (such as hard to recycle materials).

Provide clear rules for compostable products and packaging 

• Ensure new compostable packaging materials in Ontario are accepted by existing and emerging green bin programs across the province, by working with municipalities and private composting facilities to build a consensus around requirements for emerging compostable materials.
• Consider making producers responsible for the end of life management of their products and packaging.

Support competitive and sustainable end-markets for Ontario’s waste

• Cut regulatory red tape and modernize environmental approvals to support sustainable end markets for waste and new waste processing infrastructure.
• Provide municipalities and the communities they represent with a say in landfill siting approvals. While we work to reduce the amount of waste we produce, it is recognized that there will be a need for landfills in the future. The province will look for opportunities to enhance municipal say while continuing to ensure that proposals for new and expanded landfills are subject to rigorous assessment processes and strict requirements for design, operation, closure, post-closure care and financial assurance.

Make it easier and safer to reuse excess soil

• Recognize that excess soil is often a resource that can be reused. Set clear rules to allow industry to reduce construction costs, limit soil being sent to landfill and lower greenhouse gas emissions from trucking by supporting beneficial reuses of safe soils.

The full Environment Plan can be downloaded here: https://prod-environmental-registry.s3.amazonaws.com/2018-11/EnvironmentPlan.pdf

Also the Ministry will accept comments and feedback until January 28, 2019, here: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4208?_ga=2.167399160.79234127.1543353781-1372984251.1537383657

OWMA Position:
The Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) is a strong proponent of recycling and waste diversion in Ontario. OWMA supports actions that will help Ontario become an environmental and economic leader in waste and resource management. Fair competition and open markets are vital principles that will drive value to taxpayers in managing the province’s waste. It is important that any instruments employed to drive waste diversion ensure fair competition and open markets, with direct accountability to individual parties for achieving environmental outcomes.

We are pleased that a legislative framework for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is in place, and that the government is proposing movement in areas that are in need of action, such as food and organics waste diversion. OWMA supports the government’s intention to transition Ontario’s existing waste diversion programs into the new extended producer responsibility legislation.

Ontario’s Environment Plan, by reducing food and organic waste, expanding green bin programs, and identifying relevant businesses that should be diverting organic waste, will drive efficiencies, improve organic waste management and provide value in terms of economic and environmental benefits.

The OWMA supports the government’s focus on regulatory and economic instruments, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), that reflect competition and open markets to encourage diversion.  EPR is an economic instrument and policy approach in which the producers of products and packaging bear responsibility for ensuring those products and packages are properly managed at the end of their life cycle. Producer responsibility will help achieve waste reduction and environmental protection in an efficient manner and deliver optimal economic and environmental outcomes.

Regulatory burden, and an inconsistent application of rules and misallocation of resources based on risk, have acted as barriers to investments in Ontario. Ontario’s waste sector needs the right conditions for investment. The OWMA supports the government’s efforts to modernize the approvals process for waste processing facilities in an appropriate manner that reflects and manages risk, and is pleased that the government recognizes the continuing important role of landfills.

We look forward to working with the government on the best way to provide municipalities with an enhanced say on landfill siting, while also addressing Ontario’s current landfill capacity shortage and challenges related to the large amount of waste being exported to the U.S. for disposal.

OWMA members are able to access the presentation from the MOECC on the recently announced one-year service guarantee for ECA approvals. (See presentation here).

Starting in January 2018, the MOECC is implementing a one-year service standard for higher risk ECA applications received in 2018 and beyond. The MOECC will be able to put the review process on hold to give clients more time to provide additional information, if needed.  Clients will be notified of the date and reason the review was put on hold, and what they need to submit to resume the review. The date of the one-year service standard will be adjusted accordingly. Clients and the public will also be able to view and track the progress of ECA applications online.

File Attachments

• MOECC One-Year Service Standard for ECAs - Nov 9 presentation.pdf

A report commissioned by the BC MOE has been released - the second half of the report gets into what is wrong with the BC PPP regulation from a competition perspective.

The report identifies several non-regulatory, administrative reforms to how the British Columbia Ministry of Environment (MOE) approves stewardship plans and administers oversight under the British Columbia Recycling Regulation that can enhance competition and improve economic efficiency.

Notable amongst these administrative reforms is improved data collection by the MOE to better inform the setting and oversight of performance standards, refocusing stewardship plans to describe how competitive markets will be harnessed to achieve EPR outcomes and ongoing MOE collaboration with the Competition Bureau Canada to educate BC EPR market participants about their responsibilities as competitors.

Competition related issues might arise where regulators wish to address broader economic or political considerations by specifying how producers or their agents will achieve certain performance objectives. In such cases additional regulation may be required to ensure efficient outcomes. A case in point is the MOE’s approval of the Multi-Material BC (MMBC) packaging and printed paper (PPP) steward plan which essentially requires MMBC to create a province-wide household collection network for PPP.

File Attachments

• BC EPR Competition Report 2018.pdf

Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Dianne Saxe, released Back to Basics, her four-volume 2018 Environmental Protection Report, to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

The report calls on the provincial government to limit water pollution, commit funding towards programs that protect municipal drinking water sources, as well as increase the protection of wetlands, woodlands, and wildlife across the province.

On October 23, 2018, the Government of Canada announced the next steps in its climate action plan and reaffirmed its commitment to apply a federal carbon pricing system (the “Federal Backstop”) in Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in 2019. In so doing, the federal government has doubled down on imposing carbon pricing across Canada. The media release noted:

“The Government of Canada worked with provinces and territories for two years, giving them the flexibility to design their own climate plans that included putting a price on carbon pollution. A price on pollution gives people the incentive to make cleaner choices and gives businesses incentives to find clean solutions. Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Yukon have stepped up and shown leadership, either by developing their own systems or choosing to adopt the federal pollution pricing system. Other provinces have not recognized the cost of pollution.”

“The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that there will be a federal system in place in Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan in 2019. This is the next step in the government’s plan to protect the environment and grow the economy. Any direct proceeds collected will go directly back to people in these provinces. Households will receive a Climate Action Incentive, which will give most families more than they pay under the new system. Funds will also be given to the provinces’ cities, schools, hospitals, businesses, and Indigenous communities to, for example, help them become more energy efficient and reduce emissions, helping Canadians save even more money, and improve our local economies.”

Ontario has vowed to fight the federal carbon tax and is planning to release a new environmental plan that will address carbon and GHG in November.

The Ministry of Labour has convened the first meeting of the advisory group assisting with the review and updating of the MOL 2004 Mobile Compacting Equipment Safety Guidelines for waste vehicles. The project will run for 5 months and OWMA is well represented by the following individuals: Rob Cook, OWMA; Colin Vidler, City of Hamilton; Dave West, GFL Environmental; Greg Parr, Joe Johnson Equipment and Francis Veilleux, Blue Water Recycling Association. Input is being coordinated through the OWMA Health & Safety committee and we will endeavour to keep members updated on guideline changes being contemplated.

Ecofiscal-Commission-Solid-Waste-Report-Cutting-the-Waste-October-16-2018.pdf

Project Plan_Mobile Compacting Euipment Guideline v2.pdf

There is a recent decision of the Court of Appeal that deals with costs awards at tribunals. As there are almost certainly implications from this decision on any future waste management hearing, or for that matter, any person who may have an interest in any proposal which may lead to an Environmental Review Tribunal (“ERT”) hearing, Harry Dahme of Gowling WLG has prepared a high-level summary of the decision.

File Attachments

• TOR_LAW-#9625645-v1-OWMA__LETTER_TO_ROB_COOK__FROM_HARRY_DAHME_AND_JESSICA_BOILY__SEPTEMBER_7__2018.pdf

At the recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, a short outline of the challenges facing waste management in the province from a municipal perspective was available and circulated to conference attendees and provincial government representatives.

File Attachments

• 2018-08-17_AMO_GarbageProblem_Flyer_Print.pdf

The CIF has embarked on a strategic plan development process at a time when the Blue Box program and the future is uncertain. The CIF is seeking input and comments from stakeholders on a range of future options for the Fund. An information package with survey forms is available below describing why and what the CIF strategic plan consultation is all about and provides a starter for stakeholder feedback on priorities/activities CIF may undertake going forward. The OWMA has had a presentation from CIF on the consultation plan and is encouraging interested members to engage directly.

File Attachments

• Strat Plan Distribution Package Aug 15-18.pdf

The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) is working to improve Canada’s record on preventing, reducing and recycling plastic waste. Attached here you will find a proposed approach to achieving zero plastic waste in Canada. CCME’s Waste Reduction and Recovery Committee, co-chaired by representatives of Yukon Environment, Québec’s Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, and Environment and Climate Change Canada, is leading the zero plastic waste work.

File Attachments

• CCME Draft Framework for Zero Plastic Waste.pdf

File Attachments

• OWMA concerns about CNMTS-response July 13th 2018.pdf

The MOECC successful charged and achieved convictions on both a consulting company and a site project manager (QP) related to false information being provided related to Records of Site Condition (RSC). Soil Engineers Ltd. was found guilty of one violation under the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), was fined $35,000 plus a Victim Fine Surcharge (VFS) of $8,750, and was given 30 days to pay. On the same date, Anthony Upper was found guilty of two violations under the EPA, was fined $15,000 plus a VFS of $3,750, and was given 18 months to pay. See the details and Ministry media release below.