Ottawa wins Green Bin arbitration – appeal pending
Following years of conflict, and a long arbitration process, a commercial arbitrator has ruled that Orgaworld Canada must accept leaf and yard waste in the City of Ottawa’s green bin program and dismissed Orgaworld’s claim against the City. The decision is a win for Ottawa taxpay…
View the post titled Ottawa wins Green Bin arbitration – appeal pendingOntario to slash funds for household hazardous waste?
We hear that today’s Ontario budget may contain an unwelcome surprise for municipal waste managers: a quiet mid year cut to provincial funding for municipal Household Hazardous Waste programs. The province has been subsidizing these programs since 2010, when it ignominiously cancelled …
View the post titled Ontario to slash funds for household hazardous waste?Environment Ministry to loosen law for waste-based alternative fuels that displace coal
Kudos to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for finally coming to grips, at least a little, with the adverse environmental and environmental effects of labelling too many productive activities as “waste disposal”. The ministry’s proposed regulatory changes will remove …
View the post titled Environment Ministry to loosen law for waste-based alternative fuels that displace coalFor environmental liability, who is an "officer"?
Who is an “officer”? Section 194 of the Ontario Environmental Protection Act imposes substantial duties on corporate officers and directors, without defining who they are. It is essential for people to know whether these duties and this environmental liability applies to them. If…
View the post titled For environmental liability, who is an "officer"?Misunderstood "best by" labels waste food and energy
According to a recent Harvard study, The Dating Game, badly regulated and poorly understood food labelling contributes to an enormous, avoidable waste of food, and associated energy and emissions. The study is focused on the US food labelling requirements, and the resulting impact on the Am…
View the post titled Misunderstood "best by" labels waste food and energyNo personal environmental conviction without knowledge or participation
When is an individual liable to conviction for a corporate environmental offence? The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has insisted that management personnel are automatically liable for corporate environmental offences, and has laid numerous charges on this basis. The Summary Conviction …
View the post titled No personal environmental conviction without knowledge or participationCoordinating international laws on hazardous materials and waste
Three different international treaties regulate international aspects of of hazardous materials and wastes. This week, staff and delegates working on the three treaties are meeting together to coordinate their efforts.
View the post titled Coordinating international laws on hazardous materials and wasteEnvironment Minister Bradley: what he’s done and doing on waste
Last week, Ontario Minister of the Environment, Jim Bradley, spoke to the Ontario Waste Management Association. He summarizes his Ministry’s considerable achievements of the last year on the waste file, and promises a new program for end of life vehicles, plus new framework legislation…
View the post titled Environment Minister Bradley: what he’s done and doing on wasteWhere are electronic documents for hazardous waste?
Where are electronic documents for hazardous waste? Under Ontario’s Regulation 347, waste generators must keep some documents at the waste generation facility, in either physical or electronic form. Physical storage at each waste generation facility may be challenging. Will cloud (or o…
View the post titled Where are electronic documents for hazardous waste?Can biased sampling create hazardous waste?
One of our current cases deals with a question that is critical to everyone in the waste business: can biased sampling make a non-hazardous waste “hazardous”?
View the post titled Can biased sampling create hazardous waste?Receive Blog Posts
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