Until July 18, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment is accepting comments on proposed changes to Regulation 347: General – Waste Management, EBR 010-6729. The Ministry advertises these as minor, housekeeping amendments.
Half of the amendments are intended to ensure that the Ministry wins long-standing arguments about the interpretation of the regulation. For example, sludges that fail a slump test will now be defined as “liquid waste”, even though sludges are, by definition, semi-solid.
The other amendments will formalize a long-standing administrative exemption for certain “field operations”, including many spill cleanups. This will exempt from subject waste requirements, (eg generator registration and manifesting), all waste generated and collected from field operations and transported directly to a local waste transfer facility. The amendment would also exempt the local waste transfer facility from approvals requirements to receive the waste. Field operations include remote sites operated by power or pipeline networks, equipment service contractors and mobile health care providers, and others who have auxiliary operations outside their primary place of business.
o Clarification and/or update of existing definitions and requirements in the regulation that have been identified over the years as questions have arisen over the implementation of the regulation