Pefferlaw Peat Products Inc. - Environmental Compliance Approval (waste)

The ministry received two comments on the ERO through the EBR public consultation process.

The ministry considered the following issues/concerns from the comments to be in-scope and therefore to be reviewed and addressed:

• site design and operating and testing procedures and compliance with the Ontario Compost Standards and “Guideline for Production of Compost in Ontario and Compost Standard Quality”
• environmental impacts including: odour, dust, litter, noise, surface water and groundwater contamination
• emergency situations management including fires and flooding
• financial assurance requirements

Issues/concerns were addressed through the proposed design and operation of the site and by including environmentally protective conditions in the ECA, as follows:

• site design and operating procedures proposed for the site were reviewed and accepted, as appropriate. To standardize the design and operating requirements for this leaf and yard waste composting site, and to ensure compliance with the Ontario Compost Standards and the applicable recommendations from “Guideline for Production of Compost in Ontario and Compost Standard Quality”, standard conditions for this type of operation from were included in the ECA. Testing requirements conditions were also included in the ECA to ensure compliance with the Ontario Compost Standards for Category AA compost and thus eligibility for the unrestricted use exemption
• the odour and dust management procedures included in the application have been reviewed and accepted. In addition, the ECA contains conditions that require preparation of the dust and odour management plans. These conditions are included to enhance control of odour and dust emissions from the site and to standardize the content of the plans since these plans are to be prepared in accordance with the ministry’s template and in consultation with the ministry staff
• litter management procedures included in the application have been reviewed and accepted. In addition to those proposed procedures, the ECA also contains conditions that require site inspections and regular litter collection, to further enhance control of litter emissions
• the application proposes use of low noise equipment and the separation distance from the active operations area to the sensitive receptors was deemed sufficient to prevent noise impacts from the operations
• the site receives and composts leaf and yard waste. The environmental risks from this waste type to surface and groundwater are low. Therefore, the proposed impact control measures were deemed acceptable and approved.
• the application contained procedures for fire and flooding contingency measures. However, to enhance the owner’s preparedness for these and other types of emergency situations, preparation of the Emergency Response and Contingency Plan is required in the ECA condition
• the owner proposed phased site development and the corresponding financial assurance submission schedule, and the ministry accepted the proposal. The financial assurance amounts have been reviewed and included in the ECA conditions

The comments also included concerns about the current and possible future non-compliance with the ministry’s requirements and the quality of the redacted application package made available for the public review of the proposal. These comments are deemed out-of-scope for the technical review of this proposal.