The following is a press release from the Province of Ontario’s court bulletin. The date of the offense was Jan. 14, 2020 and the conviction was Dec. 14, 2022
Waste Management of Canada Corp (WMCC) and Sutcliffe Septic Services Ltd. were convicted of one violation under the Environmental Protection Act. WMCC was fined $120,000, plus a victim fine surcharge of $30,000 and given 90 days to pay. Sutcliffe Septic Services Ltd. was fined $25,000, plus a victim fine surcharge of $6,250 and given 120 days to pay.
Background
- Waste Management of Canada Corp (WMCC) owns and operates a landfill site known as “Richmond Landfill Site” in the Town of Greater Napanee. Sutcliffe Septic Services Ltd. is a contracting company whose one truck provides septic pumping and related services in the Greater Napanee area.
- The site has been closed and capped and has a liquid leachate collection system that includes two sump chambers. When leachate levels are high, WMCC pumps out the sumps and uses approved trucks to transport the leachate to the local wastewater treatment plant for disposal. In emergency situations where off-site disposal was not available, excess leachate was moved to an on-site temporary storage lagoon using overland piping or truck transfers.
- On January 14, 2020, the local wastewater treatment plant was not accepting wastewater transfers because of the recent precipitation levels. To prevent the sump chambers from overflowing WMCC requested Sutcliffe Septic Services Ltd. pump some of the leachate from the sump chambers into the truck, then haul it to the temporary storage lagoon where it could be discharged safely.
- After pumping approximately 13,000 litres of the leachate from the sump chambers into the truck, the Sutcliffe driver proceeded to haul the leachate toward the storage lagoon. The driver stopped before reaching the lagoon because he was concerned the loaded truck would get stuck in the field. The driver contacted a WMCC employee on site to advise that he could not reach the lagoon but also needed to unload the truck quickly in order to get to another, unrelated appointment. After some discussion, the WMCC employee directed the Sutcliffe driver to discharge the leachate from the truck onto the ground in the field.
- On January 16, 2020, the ministry’s Kingston District Office received a phone call from WMCC. The company reported an incident where approximately 13,000 litres of industrial landfill leachate had been intentionally spilled to the ground at the Richmond Landfill Site two days earlier on January 14, 2020, as a result of a truck transfer hauling leachate to the adjacent lined storage lagoon.
- On January 17, 2020, a ministry staff member attended the site and spoke with the site foreman who advised that he instructed the driver to deliberately discharge the leachate waste, dumping the waste along a tree line in an unapproved area to the north on the property. The site foreman further advised that the leachate fully infiltrated into the ground after the deliberate spill.
- The matter was investigated by the Ministry’s Environmental Investigation and Enforcement Branch, which resulted in charges being laid and the conviction.