Update Announcement
This proposal originally posted on January 20, 2025 with a 45 days comment period ending March 08, 2025. It was updated April 09, 2025 to make it consistent with the City of Toronto’s land zoning approval in terms of type of waste that can be accepted at the site as well as clarifying waste quantities for each waste type to be accepted and processed at the site. A new 45-day comment period been provided.
This consultation was open from:
January 22, 2025
to May 24, 2025
Decision summary
Approval is granted to amend the existing Environmental Compliance Approval (waste disposal site) No. 4053-BXUS8E, to include acceptance of non-hazardous liquid soil, and the acceptance, solidification, and transfer of non-hazardous liquid industrial waste at the site. The site will not receive any hazardous waste.
Location details
Site address
45 Comstock Road
Toronto,
ON
Canada
Site location map
The location pin reflects the approximate area where environmental activity is taking place.
View this location on a map opens link in a new windowProponent(s)
Clean Soils Services Ltd.
45 Comstock Road
Toronto,
ON
M1L 2G7
Canada
Decision details
Approval is granted to amend the existing Environmental Compliance Approval (waste disposal site) No. 4053-BXUS8E, to include acceptance of non-hazardous liquid soil, and the acceptance, solidification, and transfer of non-hazardous liquid industrial waste at the site. The site will not receive any hazardous waste.
The site is approved to accept the following wastes:
- receiving, processing and/or transfer of non-hazardous liquid soil
- receiving of non-hazardous excess soil for the sale or transfer
- receiving, processing, and/or transferring non-hazardous liquid industrial waste
Daily receiving limits:
- liquid soil (non-hazardous) – 3000 cubic metres
- liquid industrial (non-hazardous) – 375 cubic metres
- excess soil (non-hazardous) – 700 tonnes
Maximum storage capacity:
- liquid soil (non-hazardous) – 802 cubic metres
- liquid industrial waste (non-hazardous) processed/unprocessed - 340 cubic metres
- excess and proceeded soil (non-hazardous) – 2,500 cubic metres
- total on-site storage capacity of 3951 cubic metres
The hours of operation will be Monday to Saturday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm for shipping and receiving. Processing and management of the liquid soil will occur indoors 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The facility will serve Canada and the USA.
Effects of consultation
Two responses from residents and the City of Toronto were received and summarized below:
- a resident requested additional information about the proposal on December 13, 2024
Response:
The Design and Operations Report was shared with the requestor on February 18th, 2025, and updated Design and Operations Report on March 17, 2025. The comments on the design and operations report were requested by March 24th, 2025, but there was no comment received.
- the residents outlined concerns associated with non-compliance with the existing City’s conditions placed on the minor variance zoning approval, ECA condition for operational hours and information sharing (monthly results) with the residents, accepting of hazardous waste, dust issues originating from the site operations
Response:
The ministry is not considering approving acceptance and processing of hazardous waste at this facility because hazardous waste receipt and processing is contrary to the conditions of minor variances approval issues by the City of Toronto issued in December 2019. The proponent amended its proposal to exclude hazardous waste from the amendment application. The issues pertaining to the ECA non-compliance or City of Toronto’s minor variance approval conditions are beyond the scope of this technical evaluation as the appropriate forums for addressing non-compliance issues are the ministry’s Toronto District Office and the City’s by-law officer.
- City of Toronto’s comments
The City of Toronto provided its input in a letter dated February 4, 2025, and its input, the City indicated that the proposal to receive hazardous waste at the site is contrary to the site approval issued by the City of Toronto, and if approval granted, the site will be non-compliant of the City’s approval issued in December 2019.
Response:
The City’s concern was shared with the proponent, and as a result, the proposal was revised to exclude the receipt and processing of hazardous waste. As such, the ministry has not considered or approved the facility to accept hazardous waste at the site.
Supporting materials
View materials in person
Some supporting materials may not be available online. If this is the case, you can request to view the materials in person.
Get in touch with the office listed below to find out if materials are available.
135 St Clair Ave West
1st Floor
Toronto,
ON
M4V 1P5
Canada
How to Appeal
This instrument decision can be appealed. You have 15 days from May 27, 2025 to begin the appeal process.
Carefully review the information below to learn more about the appeal process.
How to appealClick to Expand Accordion
Start the process to appeal
If you’re an Ontario resident, you can start the process to appeal this instrument decision.
First, you’ll need to seek leave (i.e. get permission) from the relevant appellate body to appeal the decision.
If the appellate body grants leave, the appeal itself will follow.
Seek leave to appeal
To seek leave to appeal, you need to do these three things:
- prepare your application
- provide notice to the minister
- mail your application to three parties
1. Prepare your application
You’ll need to prepare an application. You may wish to include the following things in your application:
- A document that includes:
- your name, phone number, fax number (if any), and/or email address
- the ERO number and ministry reference number (located on this page)
- a statement about whether you are a resident in Ontario
- your interest in the decision, and any facts you want taken into account in deciding whether you have an interest in the decision
- the parts of the instrument that you’re challenging
- whether the decision could result in significant harm to the environment
- the reason(s) why you believe that no reasonable person – having regard to the relevant law and to any government policies developed to guide decisions of that kind – could have made the decision
- the grounds (facts) you’ll be using to appeal
- the outcome you’d like to see
- A copy of the instrument (approval, permit, order) that you you are seeking leave to appeal. You’ll find this in the decision notice on the Environmental Registry
- Copies of all supporting documents, facts and evidence that you’ll be using to appeal
What is considered
The appeal body will consider the following two questions in deciding whether to grant you leave to appeal:
- is there is good reason to believe that no reasonable person, with respect to the relevant law and to any government policies developed to guide decisions of that kind, could have made the decision?
- could the decision you wish to appeal result in significant harm to the environment?
2. Provide your notice
You’ll need to provide notice to the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks that you’re seeking leave to appeal.
In your notice, please include a brief description of the:
- decision that you wish to appeal
- grounds for granting leave to appeal
You can provide notice by email at minister.mecp@ontario.ca or by mail at:
College Park 5th Floor, 777 Bay St.
Toronto, ON
M7A 2J3
3. Mail your application
You’ll need to mail your application that you prepared in step #1 to each of these three parties:
- appellate body
- issuing authority (the ministry official who issued the instrument)
- proponent (the company or individual to whom the instrument was issued)
Clean Soils Services Ltd.
45 Comstock Road
Toronto,
ON
M1L 2G7
Canada
Registrar, Ontario Land Tribunal
655 Bay Street, Suite 1500
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 1E5
(416) 212-6349
(866) 448-2248
OLT.Registrar@ontario.ca
Include the following:
This is not legal advice. Please refer to the Environmental Bill of Rights for exact legal requirements. Consult a lawyer if you need help with the appeal process.
Connect with us
Contact
Client Services and Permissions Branch
135 St Clair Ave West
1st Floor
Toronto,
ON
M4V 1P5
Canada
Original proposal
Proposal details
This proposal is to amend existing Environmental Compliance Approval for Clean Soils Services Ltd. (ECA) No.4053-BXUS8E to include the acceptance of manifested non-hazardous liquid soil, and the acceptance, solidification, and transfer of non-hazardous liquid industrial waste at its Scarborough facility. The site will not receive any hazardous waste.
Following the proposed changes, operations at the site will include:
- Receiving, processing and/or transfer of non-hazardous liquid soil.
- Receiving of non-hazardous excess soil for the sale or transfer.
- Receiving, processing, and/or transferring non-hazardous liquid industrial waste.
Materials received will originate from residential, municipal, commercial, and industrial sources. Materials will be temporarily stored on-site for a period not exceeding 90 days before being transferred to other Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) approved facilities. The site encompasses a 1.05-hectare parcel of land and includes a 1,839 square metres building. The building also houses administrative offices for the company. The liquid soil separation process is primarily conducted indoors. Processed materials (i.e., extracted soil) will be stored both indoors and outdoors under covered structures. The current operations include the following components:
- an exterior receiving bay with a maximum capacity of 145 cubic metres for storing liquid soil offloaded from hydro-vac trucks
- one covered in-ground concrete holding tank with a capacity of 490 cubic metres
- six interconnected in-ground concrete tanks with a maximum combined capacity of165 cubic metres
- two separate piles for silt, aggregate, and stone
- parking for up to 21 vehicles
Changes at site: construction of a new covered structure to house the following operations:
- three solidification pits storage, transfer, and solidification of non-hazardous containerized wastes
- one double-walled storage tank for non-hazardous oils and two double-walled storage tanks for water
- a process control laboratory to support operations
- enhanced water treatment capabilities to meet sewer use criteria
Installation of a truck scale for accurate material measurement:
- implementation of new containment measures within the facility
- enhanced storm water and dust management practices (washing/sweeping)
Daily receiving limits:
- liquid soil (non-hazardous) – 3000 cubic metres
- liquid industrial (non-hazardous) – 700 cubic metres
- excess soil (non-hazardous) – 600 T
Maximum storage capacity:
- liquid soil (non-hazardous) – 802 cubic metres
- liquid industrial waste (non-hazardous) processed/unprocessed - 649 cubic metres
- excess and proceeded soil (non-hazardous) – 2,500 cubic metres
- total on-site storage capacity of 3951 cubic metres
The hours of operation will be Monday to Saturday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm for shipping and receiving. Processing and management of the liquid soil will occur indoors 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The facility will serve Canada and the USA.
Supporting materials
View materials in person
Some supporting materials may not be available online. If this is the case, you can request to view the materials in person.
Get in touch with the office listed below to find out if materials are available.
135 St Clair Ave West
1st Floor
Toronto,
ON
M4V 1P5
Canada
Comment
Commenting is now closed.
This consultation was open from January 22, 2025
to May 24, 2025
Connect with us
Contact
Client Services and Permissions Branch
135 St Clair Ave West
1st Floor
Toronto,
ON
M4V 1P5
Canada
Comments received
Through the registry
0By email
3By mail
0