Ontario flooded with toxic waste

By SUSAN BOURETTE

July 12, 2000 Web posted at: 11:50 AM EDT (1550 GMT)

TORONTO, Ontario (Toronto Globe & Mail Online) -- Ontario's feeble environmental laws have made the province a dumping ground for hazardous waste that contains carcinogens and threatens the health of its citizens, according to a scathing report to be released today by an environmental group.

The cities of Burlington and Hamilton are tops among hot spots in the province for hazardous waste -- both as sites for imported waste from the United States and as generators of their own waste, a study by the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy states.

According to the research -- the first of its kind in more than a decade -- Ontario's toxic-waste imports increased a stunning 138 percent between 1994 and 1998, the period for which most recent figures are available. Waste generated by Ontario industries and businesses surged nearly 42 percent for the same period, the report shows.

"This just shows that Ontario is open for business -- business in toxic waste," said Anne Mitchell, CIELAP's executive director. "We believe that weak environmental laws in the province have contributed to the growth. . . . To protect the health of Ontarians, the province must act now to reverse this trend."

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In fact, the Ministry of Environment is so alarmed that it plans to change provincial regulations in the next month.

"The minister is very troubled by the report," said Hal Vincent, a spokesman for Environment Minister Dan Newman. "There should be some measures within the next month to address the problem."

Ontario became a dumping ground for U.S. polluters in the early to mid-1990s after the strengthening of environmental laws in the United States, Ms. Mitchell said.

All told, Sarnia ranked first among cities receiving U.S. waste -- up 220 percent over the four-year period studied. Hamilton and Burlington were close behind, up 173 percent and 154 percent respectively. Those two cities also ranked first and third in the amount of waste local industries generate. Ottawa placed second.

The study, entitled Open for Toxics: A Study of Hazardous Waste Generation and Disposal in Ontario, was conducted using the Environment Ministry's own data.

The report also ranks the largest generators of hazardous waste across the province. Safety-Kleen, partly owned by Burlington-based Laidlaw Inc., and Philip Services Corp. of Hamilton were listed among the biggest importers of hazardous waste.

Ms. Mitchell said such waste poses a range of threats. The most obvious problems are with wastes that are reactive, explosive, corrosive, infectious or radioactive. Many also contain carcinogens, she added.

Increasingly, hazardous waste is turning up at water-pollution-control plants, landfill sites and processing stations across the province. The environmental group said yesterday it is also concerned about spills. Most of the waste is imported by highway and railway.

Ms. Mitchell said the report reinforces the need for the province to modernize its standards. Specifically, the agency wants the disposal of untreated wastes at dumps prohibited. She said the province should also adopt new operating and emission standards for incinerators and enact a pollution-prevention planning charter.

The report also found that the biggest growth in wastes generated by the province has been in steel-making residues; there has been a 257 percent increase in U.S. waste going directly to Ontario dumps and a 113 percent increase in transfers of waste to incinerators; and Dow Chemical Canada Inc., General Motors of Canada Ltd., and Laidlaw Environmental are also among the top generators of hazardous waste in the province.

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