Timmins landfill owner digs into pocket to pay fine

A Timmins-based company operating a landfill outside the city was fined almost $20,000 in a Timmins courtroom for failing to submit adequate financial assurance. 

The company,  identified in a Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks news release as 1128850 Ontario Inc., but identified in other provincial documents as Erocon Waste Management, was convicted of one violation under the Environmental Protection Act, fined $15,394 plus a victim fine surcharge of $3,848, and given one year to pay.

The Timmins company, operates a wood waste landfill site located in Tisdale Township.

According to the Environmental Registry of Ontario, the 24-hectare site is approved to take in non-hazardous solid waste. Seventy-five per cent is wood waste from various wood mills in the region and 25 per cent is local construction and demolition waste. Some processing is done to remove recyclable materials, such as tires, steel, discarded plastic pails and electronics. The facility receives a daily average volume of 150 cubic metres or 30,000 cubic metres annually. 

Financial assurance is financial security (cash or marketable securities) that guarantee the costs of complying with environmental objectives can be covered, should an owner or operator of a site be unable pay for remediation to due to bankruptcy or insolvency, according to the Ontario Waste Management Association.

An October 27 news release from the ministry said the date of conviction was Sept. 7.

The offence occurred sometime between November 26, 2019, to November 27, 2020

The landfill has been approved by the Ministry of Environmental, Conservation and Parks since 1996.

The release said since the time the ministry approved the site there have been four amendments to that approval, including an increased schedule for financial assurance payments. The ministry said the increase in assurance was determined based on information provided by the company’s environmental consultant.

The company failed to provide the assessed financial assurance under the conditions of the ministry’s approval and the environmental investigations and enforcement branch moved in and laid charges resulting in the conviction.