Members Only Articles

As part of the Waste-Free Ontario Strategy, the government has committed to reform the planning and management of landfill sites to reduce emissions and environmental risks. The strategy recognizes the need for landfill space as the province work towards the goal of a waste-free Ontario. It also lays out steps to ensure environmental standards are being put into place at landfills across the province.

To address this specific action the government released an RFP entitled “Project: tender_6094 - “Study: Landfill Planning and Management in Ontario.” The deadline for submissions is June 8. The project will likely begin in July and last five months.

This study will provide an opportunity for the sector to highlight its priorities and work with the government to develop a more consistent, predictable approvals process for new landfill sites and needed disposal capacity. The OWMA will be working through its Waste Disposal & Transfer committee to provide feedback to the government through this process.

Some concerns have been raised that this study might impact the status of current landfill approvals, but it appears the MOECC is continuing to move forward with approvals at this time.

As one additional reminder, the MOECC has also posted the draft Landfill Gas Offset Protocol on the Environmental Registry with a deadline for comments of June 18. If you have any questions or feedback about the offset protocol, please contact the OWMA office 905-791-9500.

Pnewko Brothers Ltd. recently received its verification under the Canadian Standards Association’s guideline for sustainable materials management – making it the third OWMA member to do so since the guideline was released in 2015.

Pnewko Brothers Ltd. has already been ahead of the curve in developing innovative processes to increase the diversion of plastics and create value-added recycled products. But now, with its recent CSA verification, the company has taken another significant step forward to strengthen its brand as a leading company in the waste management sector.

Organizations that receive verification under the Guideline for Accountable Management of End-of-Life Materials (SPE-890) must adhere to a common set of definitions, report performance rates and undergo third-party data audits to ensure accuracy.

Meeting these requirements bolsters the reputation of verified businesses while giving them the ability to provide detailed information to their customers to assist in making more effective decisions on recycling and organics diversion.

Members of the OWMA recognize the value of this rigorous environmental and reporting guideline. That’s why, to date, Pnewko Brothers, Countrywide Recycling and Electro-Shred have all received their verification.

We are now hearing from our members that certain customers in the market for collection and recycling services are specifically looking for businesses that meet the requirements in the CSA guideline. They want greater accountability and transparency. And they know they’ll get that working with a business that has received verification.

The world’s “largest targeted enforcement program on commercial motor vehicles” is set to kick off its annual International Roadcheck on June 6, and specifically focus on cargo securement.

The International Roadcheck is a program of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), which includes the participation of the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, Transport Canada, and the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (Mexico).

Each year, the program focuses on a specific category of violations. This year, the CVSA has placed emphasis on cargo securement to highlight safety requirements.

Over a 72-hour-period from June 6 to 8, inspectors will primarily conduct the North American Standard Level I Inspection. It consists of a 37-step procedure that includes an examination of both driver operating requirements and vehicle mechanical fitness.

According to the CVSA, “drivers are required to provide items such as their driver’s license, hours-of-service documentation, motor carrier registration and shipping documentation, and inspectors will be checking drivers for seat belt usage and the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

“The vehicle inspection includes checking items, such as the brake systems, cargo securement, coupling devices, driveline/driveshaft, exhaust systems, frames, fuel systems, lighting devices (required lamps), steering mechanisms, suspensions, tires, van and open-top trailer bodies, wheels, rims and hubs, windshield wipers, and emergency exits (on buses).”

During the 72-hour period of the International Roadcheck, nearly 17 trucks or buses are inspected, on average, every minute in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

For OWMA members looking for guidance on cargo securement of open-top containers, download our Bin Safety Guideline.

Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation responded this month to the OWMA’s call to require drivers to slow down and move over for waste collection vehicles with their flashing lights on, telling a local newspaper in Hamilton that the government isn’t considering updating the province’s traffic laws to protect frontline workers in Ontario’s waste management sector.

Transportation Ministry spokesperson, Bob Nichols, told the Stoney Creek News that  Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act “reflects the need of emergency vehicles and tow truck drivers to work in dangerous, high speed and uncontrolled road side situations that are generally not representative of those faced by other users of flashing lights.”

As anyone in the sector can see, the comments from the Ministry demonstrate a serious lack of understanding about the challenges waste collection workers face on a daily basis, including working on rural highways.

The OWMA has followed up with the Ministry to seek clarification on the comments and will continue to highlight the importance of strengthening protections for waste collection workers, following two successful news conferences recently held by the association.  

The first news conference was on the National Day of Mourning, Friday, April 28, at Emterra Group’s office in Elmira. It gave the OWMA the opportunity to speak with the media about the growing trend across North America to pass slow down, move over laws while highlighting the association’s support for Harris’s private member’s bill, which would require drivers to slow down and move over for waste collection vehicles and snow plows with their flashing lights on.

The second news conference was on Friday, May 5, at Waste Connections of Canada’s transfer station in Hamilton. There, the association and Waste Connections’ representative, Dominic Evangelista, stressed the importance of providing the safest possible working environment for waste collection workers.

The news coverage from the two events is below:

Ontario MPP wants to broaden ‘slow down, move over’ law

http://globalnews.ca/news/3429436/ontario-mpp-wants-to-broaden-slow-down-move-over-law/

Ontario’s waste management association gets behind "Slow down, Move over" bill by Tory MPP

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/7290278-ontario-s-waste-management-association-gets-behind-slow-down-move-over-bill-by-tory-mpp/

Harris proposes Slow Down, Move Over to protect waste management and construction workers on roads

https://observerxtra.com/2017/05/04/harris-proposes-slow-move-protect-waste-management-construction-workers-roads/

The Ontario government is planning to make a series of sweeping labour reforms after the release of the final Changing Workplaces Review, which is expected to made public next week.

News reports in the Toronto Star and CBC News last weekend pointed to several major changes that Labour Minister Kevin Flynn is prepared to make to address the issue of so-called “precarious employment.”

These reforms will likely include boosting the minimum wage to $15 an hour, increasing vacation pay to a minimum of three weeks, requiring employers to provide more sick days, allowing workers to refuse shifts scheduled on short notice, extending full-time benefits to contract and part-time workers, and making it easier for workers to unionize in certain industries.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has already responded to the leaked details about the Changing Workplaces Review by writing an open letter to the Premier and making comments to the media to voice the business community’s concerns about the impact that significant changes to labour law could have on investment in Ontario and the broader economy.

The government’s planned actions follow last year’s release and consultation on the Changing Workplaces Review, Special Advisors’ Interim Report, which presented numerous options for reforming Ontario’s Labour Relations Act and the Employment Standards Act. The report was authored by Michael Mitchell, an arbitrator and lawyer, and former Superior Court Justice John Murray, who were both appointed by the Ontario government in February 2015.

Card-based certification versus secret-ballot vote

The CBC reported that the government will remove barriers to unionization in “low-paid, precarious employment.” Moving in this direction could include, as the Toronto Star suggests, introducing card-based certification for certain sectors of the economy. The NDP has also tabled a private member’s bill to expand card-based certification in the province, which has been endorsed by Unifor. 

Card-based certification, as opposed to a secret-ballot vote, allows union organizers to sign up employees using union “cards,” or authorization forms, and file an application with the Ontario Labour Relations Board to certify a company or an organization without a vote.

The OWMA expressed its concerns about card-based certification last October in our submission to the government on the Changing Workplaces Review, Special Advisors’ Interim Report.

Ontario PCs’ position on secret-ballot vote shifts

Several other industry groups, including Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, reiterated their support for the secret-ballot vote last year, but only one political party has traditionally supported the practice. However, that may be changing.

The Official Opposition has consistently shown reluctance to engage the government on labour issues, which was clearly demonstrated in a major, but quiet, policy reversal on May 10.

In Question Period on May 9, Labour Minister Kevin Flynn accused Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown of being weak on labour issues and attacked MPP Jim McDonnell’s private member’s bill to restore the secret-ballot vote for the construction industry and eliminate card-based certification.

A day later, during Orders of the Day on May 10, McDonnell sought and received unanimous consent to remove his bill from the order paper despite the long-standing history of the Ontario PCs supporting and defending the secret-ballot vote.

With this context in mind, OWMA members should be aware that there will likely be little to no opposition to the Changing Workplaces Review, or to any subsequent labour bills, at Queen’s Park.

The provincial government recently informed stakeholders that it’s no longer a question of if Ontario will pursue a disposal ban for organic waste; it’s a question of when.

This policy direction was emphasized at a recent meeting in Toronto where producers, consultants, waste management professionals and municipal officials gathered to discuss food waste prevention and recovery. 

Following the meeting, the government issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) on April 27, to find a consultant who can assess the impacts of a disposal ban in Ontario.

The disposal ban will play a key role in the province’s Food and Organic Waste Action Plan, which the government committed to developing in the Strategy for a Waste-Free Ontario.

The RFP states that a potential disposal ban would:

• Require generators, including restaurants, households and food processing facilities, to separate organic waste; and,
• Ensure organic waste is sent to a facility for composting, anaerobic digestion, rendering or conversion to biofuels; or is managed through on-site composting.

The government has stated it intends to soon release a draft discussion paper on organic waste, as well as post a disposal ban proposal on the Environmental Registry in autumn.

In light of this development, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change will bring together stakeholders for a fourth working group meeting on May 11 to provide an update and discuss Organic Materials Diversion. The meeting was to focus solely on organic waste processing capacity, but that topic will now be examined in more detail at a later date.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) and the Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF) are conducting a joint research project to quantify and address the issue of needlestick injuries at Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in the United States and Canada.

Needlestick injuries are a serious risk to waste industry workers, especially in MRFs where sorting recyclables on picking lines and similar activities can put employees in contact with sharps and, as a result, blood borne pathogens.

The objectives of the survey are to inventory observances of needles and syringes in MRF waste streams in the U.S. and Canada and document the extent of needle-related incidences (both those that resulted in no injuries and those that did).

The OWMA would encourage members to participate to assist in better understanding the scope of the needlestick problem at MRFs in order to develop appropriate mitigation strategies, which may include regulatory proposals.

Results will be aggregated in a form that keeps the identity of individual facilities private. To take the survey, interested parties can access the project webpage here.