In St. Mary’s Cement v. Clarington (Municipality), 2011 ONSC 4631, an industrially zoned, operating cement company proposed to supplement its fuel with alternative fuel derived from recycled materials. Alternative fuels are used as fuel extensively in US and UK cement kilns, but they are not typical in Ontario. The municipality argued this would constitute operating a waste disposal area, which was not permitted by the zoning bylaw.
The court found that burning alternative fuels (within the EPA definition of waste) equalled the introduction of a new and additional landuse i.e. disposing of industrial waste. This, it ruled, was not permissible under the doctrine of legal non-conforming use.
