Ontario Businesses Regulated to Reduce Toxic Substance Use

In April the Ontario government introduced Bill 167, the Toxics Reduction Act, 2009 which attempts to reduce the reliance on toxic substances in manufacturing, workplaces and consumer products in Ontario. This bill includes a framework for toxic substance reduction by facilities which will be set out in regulations.  Similar programs are in place in the United States and the European Union; however, Ontario will be the first province in Canada to attempt to reduce toxic substance use.

If this bill is adopted, facilities subject to the Bill will be required to track and report the toxic substances they use and develop a plan for reducing the use of those substances. This Bill would expand on the federal National Pollution Release Inventory (NPRI) to require a broad range of industrial facilities, starting with the manufacturing and mineral processing sectors, to track and quantify their use of 300 toxic substances, to develop a plan to reduce this use and to disclose a summary of the plan which will be available to the public. Those subject to the Bill will be required to report on their progress with implementing their plan to reduce use of the toxic substances while the implementation of the plan itself is voluntary. Ontario businesses will be subject to increased public scrutiny regarding their use of toxic substances due to the disclosure obligations under this Bill.

The intent of this legislation is to focus on the front-end use or input of toxic substances in processes rather then the traditional management of pollutants at the end of the cycle through management of emissions. Reduction of the use of toxic substances is expected to reduce levels of exposure to substances in air, land, water and consumer products.

Details regarding Bill 167, including the list of prescribed toxic substances and substances of concern as well as the facilities to be subject to this Bill and the timelines for reporting and planning will not be available until the regulations are drafted. It is expected that the requirements will be phased in over several years.

The comment period for this bill ended May 7, 2009. Further information about Bill 167 can be found at www.ebr.gov.on.ca

To discuss environmental law needs please contact Shari Elliott at 737-1811 ext 222 or

sde@gwg.on.ca

Shari Elliott

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 10:23 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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