State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

First Annual Report

February 24, 2016

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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Table of Contents About the Ontario Waste Management Association .............................................................................. 2

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 3

Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 3

Facilities................................................................................................................................................. 4

Remaining Capacity ............................................................................................................................... 7

Ontario Waste Disposed at Landfill ........................................................................................................ 9

Remaining Capacity in Years ............................................................................................................... 11

Financial .............................................................................................................................................. 12

APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................................... 14

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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About the Ontario Waste Management Association The Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) is the voice of the waste/resource management sector in Ontario. Over the last decade, the association has led the discussion around the future of waste management in Ontario releasing the following reports and policy papers:

• ReThink Organic Waste: A Circular Strategy for Organics • ReThink Waste 2015: Evolution Towards a Circular Economy • OWMA Disposal Levies - ReThink Policy Paper Series • OWMA Extended Producer Responsibility – ReThink Policy Paper Series • OWMA Disposal Bans – ReThink Policy Paper Series • ReThink Waste: A Blue Print for Harnessing the Economic Benefits of Resource Management in

Ontario • OWMA Guiding Principles: Integrated Solid Waste Resource Recovery & Utilization

All of these materials can be found on the OWMA website - http://www.owma.org/Publications/OWMAReportsandPolicies.aspx.

OWMA has also supported the following leading edge research and projects:

• Torrie Smith Associates, Kelleher Environment & Sonnevera, “Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Ontario Waste Management Industry White Paper,” 2015.

• Canadian Standards Association, “Guideline for Accountable Management of End-of-Life Materials,” 2015.

• Conference Board of Canada, “Opportunities for Ontario’s Waste: Economic Impacts of Waste Diversion in North America,” 2014.

• 2cg, “Ontario Organic Waste Management Strategy,” 2013. • CD Howe, “The Eco-Fee Imbroglio: Lessons from Ontario’s Troubled Experiment in Charging for

Waste Management,” 2010.

OWMA is the largest waste/resource management trade association in Canada representing over 230 members across the province including private sector companies; municipalities and public sector organizations and individuals involved in the waste management sector. OWMA members manage over 85% of the province’s waste and recyclables and have diverse interests and capital investments in areas such as waste and recyclables collection, landfills, transfer stations, material recovery facilities (MRFs), energy from waste facilities, organics processing and composting facilities and hazardous waste from both a recycling and safe disposal perspective.

OWMA member companies, municipal members and individuals are at the core of the green economy.

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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Introduction Last year, the Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) embarked on a major data collection and analysis initiative to better understand data related to waste management in the province. This initial State of Waste Report will become an annual publication, which will be expanded and refined based on the needs of the sector. This data will be helpful in shaping future policy decisions for the waste management sector; enable those in the industry to make better business decisions; and provides better information to inform and educate the broader public. The initial data collected questions many assumptions such as the available remaining capacity in landfills and the amount of waste disposed of annually. It is important to underline that this first report offers just a hint of the utility of this new database to analyze data in the sector. Before more complicated analysis can be done, it is important to ensure the rigour in the data. While the database is more comprehensive and accurate than anything currently in place, this will be a continuous process of adding to and refining it. It is also important to ensure data is being captured and analyzed in the most accurate manner – this becomes increasingly important as waste composition changes over time. Methodology Individual accounts have been created for all identified landfills in the province (both active and inactive or closed) using the Ontario Ministry of Environment & Climate Change’s (MOECC) open data on landfill sites.1 In the first year, OWMA focused on ensuring the participation of all larger active landfill sites and OWMA members. Participants voluntarily provided data through Re-TRAC Connect, an online data platform used by many governments and private organizations across North America. A copy of the full landfill survey and definitions are included in Appendix A. Participation was high in the first year for the landfill sites OWMA focused on and only a few issues with the survey were identified.2 For facilities where no data was inputted, OWMA utilized publicly available and reliable data including Environmental Compliance Approvals, financial statements, reports to municipal councils, and landfill monitoring reports. OWMA recognizes that the data may include some estimates by participants and that the use of both standard and waste-specific conversion factors (i.e. tonnes to cubic metres) may impact the accuracy of the data.3 It should also be noted that some landfill sites appear to be entered multiple times in MOECC’s dataset, so the number of total landfills—particularly active landfills—is likely lower than reported. Efforts will be made over the next few years to clean up the data, with the goal of

1 The MOECC’s data on landfill sites is broken into two separate lists. One for large landfill sites which is available at https://www.ontario.ca/data/large-landfill-sites and one for small landfill sites which is available at https://www.ontario.ca/environment-and-energy/small-landfill-sites-list. 2 The issues identified were relatively minor issues such as facilities that had different seasonal operating times and some confusion with entering waste received by material type. These issues will be addressed in next year’s survey. 3 A conversion factor of 1 cubic meters to 0.85 tonnes has been applied. In some cases this conversion rate may be too high (small landfills), while in others it might be too low (large industrial landfills). In future, we hope to provide participants with the ability to adjust the conversion rate based on the material being disposed of and the compaction levels at the specific facility.

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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establishing it as the most comprehensive and accurate source for waste management information in Ontario. OWMA recognizes that the data may include some estimates by participants and that the use of both standard and waste-specific conversion factors (i.e. tonnes to cubic metres) may impact the accuracy of the data.4 It should also be noted that some landfill sites appear to be entered multiple times in MOECC’s dataset, so the number of total landfills—particularly active landfills—is likely lower than reported. Efforts will be made over the next few years to clean up the data, with the goal of establishing it as the most comprehensive and accurate source for waste management information in Ontario. Facilities As of 2014, the number of approved landfills in the province, including both currently active and closed or inactive sites, was 2,382. Since over two-thirds of these landfills do not have electronically accessible MOECC compliance approvals, it is difficult to verify the exact numbers. As such, more work will need to be done in this area to provide greater accuracy. In some cases, entries in MOECC’s database were not actually landfills, but rather different types of waste processing facilities such as land farming operations (these were removed). As a result, OWMA’s dataset does vary from MOECC’s as illustrated in Table 1. Table 1 – OWMA Landfill Dataset vs. MOECC Landfill Dataset

OWMA Dataset MOECC Datasets5 Active landfill sites 805 881 Close/inactive landfill sites 1,577 1,525 Total landfill sites 2,382 2,406 Landfills in Ontario are either publicly or privately-owned. OWMA defines ownership in the following way:

• Public landfill sites are broken into four categories: Municipal, Provincial, First Nations, and Federal. A total of 1,779 sites have been identified with provincial compliance approvals, including 616 open and 1,163 closed or inactive. Robust data is available for all of the large landfills sites and there has been good direct participation by these facilities in inputting data into OWMA’s database. Less robust data exists for the smaller sites, which are often situated in more rural or remote areas of the province.6

4 A conversion factor of 1 cubic meters to 0.85 tonnes has been applied. In some cases this conversion rate may be too high (small landfills), while in others it might be too low (large industrial landfills). In future, we hope to provide participants with the ability to adjust the conversion rate based on the material being disposed of and the compaction levels at the specific facility. 5 These numbers are noted in the draft “Strategy for a Waste Free Ontario: Building The Circular Economy” released on November 26, 2015. It is available at http://www.downloads.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/er/documents/2015/012-5834_DraftStrategy.pdf. 6 This would include most Provincial and First Nations landfills as data was not sought from them in the first year of the database. The hope is they will participate moving forward.

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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o Municipal landfill sites - owned by municipalities but could be operated by private companies under contract. A total of 1,206 municipal sites have been identified with provincial compliance approvals, including 380 open and 826 closed or inactive. The overall capacity of these facilities varies significantly from 40,000 m3 to 19,000,000 m3. The type of waste received at these sites varies but most accept residential and commercial waste.

o Provincial landfill sites – owned by the provincial government, mostly through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Several of these landfills are also owned by conservation authorities. A total of 559 provincial sites have been identified with provincial compliance approvals, 226 of which are open and 333 or which are closed or inactive. The vast majority of these sites have a small overall capacity (~40,000 m3), are located in remote areas, do not have any weigh scales, and have rudimentary oversight and operations. The type of waste received at these sites varies but most accept residential and commercial waste.

o First Nations landfill sites – owned by First Nations groups. There are a total of 12 of

these sites that have been identified with provincial compliance approvals, including 10 active and 2 closed or inactive. Similar to provincial landfills, these sites have a small overall capacity (~40,000 m3), are located in remote areas, do not have any weigh scales, and have rudimentary oversight and operations. More First Nations landfill sites might exist under federal approval.

o Federal landfill sites – owned by the federal government. Only two sites were identified

with provincial compliance approvals, both of which are closed. However, more federal landfill sites might exist under federal approval.

• Private landfill sites are broken into three categories: Commercial, Non-Commercial, and

Industrial. Six hundred and three sites have been identified with provincial compliance approvals, 189 open and 414 closed or inactive. Robust data is available for all of the large landfills sites and there has been good direct participation by these facilities in inputting data into OWMA’s database. Less robust data exists for the smaller commercial sites and the non-commercial sites, which are often in more rural or remote areas of the province. There is also only rudimentary data available for industrial landfill sites.7

o Commercial landfill sites – owned by private organizations and generally approved to

receive waste from the open marketplace (may have some geographic and material restrictions). A total of 109 sites have been identified with provincial approvals, including 33 open and 76 closed or inactive. There may be several non-commercial or industrial landfill sites captured in these totals. These sites would receive a wide range of material including residential waste; industrial, commercial, and institutional waste; construction, renovation and demolition waste; and certain levels of contaminated soil. This list also includes Ontario’s only hazardous waste landfill. It should also be noted

7 This was not an area of focus in the first year but given the number and size of some of these sites, it should be a focus for next year.

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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that although the total number of sites in this category is small, they represent the majority of Ontario’s remaining capacity.

o Non-commercial landfill sites – owned by private organizations and generally not open to receive any waste from the open marketplace. A total of 49 sites have been identified with provincial approvals, including 22 open and 27 closed or inactive. These sites are small in capacity and are owned by resorts, lodges, camping sites or small private communities. The data for these sites is rudimentary.

o Industrial landfill sites – owned by private organizations for managing waste related to

by-products of processing or waste generated from their operations. A total of 445 sites were identified with provincial approvals, including 134 open and 311 closed or inactive. These landfills largely manage industrial wastes from the forestry, pulp and paper, steel, mining and other large manufacturing industries, but some may also accept waste generated in remote communities or camps.

Figure 1 shows the breakdown between the number of active public (71%) and private sector-owned landfills (29%) in Ontario in 2014.

Figure 1 - Active Landfills in Ontario, Public (blue) & Private (red)

44%

1%

26%

0% 4%

16%

9%

Active (Open) Landfills in Ontario - All

Public - Municipal (380)

Public - First Nation (10)

Public - Provincial (226)

Public - Federal (0)

Private - Commercial (33)

Private - Industry Specific(134)

Private - Non-Commercial (76)

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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Figure 2 shows the breakdown between inactive or closed public (74%) and private sector-owned landfills (26%) in Ontario in 2014. Figure 2 - Closed or Inactive Landfills in Ontario, Public (blue) & Private (red)

Remaining Capacity Remaining capacity at active landfill sites is another important metric by which to analyze the data. Based on OWMA’s database for 2014, Ontario currently has a remaining capacity of 127.3 million tonnes. It is important to note, however, that not all landfill sites can accept all types of waste, and that many sites are limited in what they can receive. Most landfills also have geographic restrictions in their compliance approvals, and many landfill sites are hindered by their location. Figure 3 illustrates the ratio between the remaining capacity of active public and private landfill sites, which can be compared to Figure 1.

52%

0%

21%

0% 5%

20%

2%

Closed/Inactive Landfills in Ontario, All

Public - Municipal (826)

Public - First Nation (2)

Public - Provincial (333)

Public - Federal (2)

Private - Commercial (76)

Private -Industry Specific (311)

Private - Non-Commercial (27)

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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Figure 3 - Remaining Capacity (Tonnes) at Ontario’s Open Landfills – Public & Private

Note: Due to insufficient data on non-commercial landfill sites, ‘Total Private’ represents the remaining capacity at commercial landfills only.

Of note, while the MOECC created separate datasets for ‘large’ and ‘small’ landfill sites, OWMA’s data system cannot reproduce the same list of ‘large’ sites either by sorting by largest remaining capacity, approved capacity, or based on the largest amount of annual waste received. In fact, it is difficult to create a size differentiation between sites, as over one hundred sites have a remaining capacity of over 100,000 tonnes. MOECC’s datasets have become problematic as they indiscriminately differentiate between large and small sites. As a result, organizations like the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) have attempted to use this data for other purposes such as making policy decisions. While it may be difficult to draw distinct lines between the size of landfills, the majority of Ontario’s remaining capacity appears to be increasingly concentrated in a handful of sites. Based on OWMA’s database, 50 percent of Ontario’s remaining landfill capacity is held by 7 sites (both private and public) (see Figure 4), while 75% of remaining capacity is held by 15 sites (both private and public) (see Figure 5).

64%

36%

Remaining Capacity at Ontario's Active Landfills - Public vs. Private (2014)

Total Public (81.7M tonnes)

Total Private (45.6M tonnes)

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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Figure 4 - Top 7 Private & Public Sites as Percentage of Total Remaining Landfill Capacity

Figure 5 - Top 15 Private & Public Sites as Percentage of Total Remaining Landfill Capacity

Ontario Waste Disposed at Landfill Another important metric to analyze is annual waste disposed at landfill. In 2014, Ontario landfills received a total of 7.7 million tonnes of waste. This includes various types of material such as municipal solid waste, industrial waste, hazardous waste, contaminated soil and some materials used

53%

47%

Top 7 Sites as % of Total Remaining Landfill Capacity (2014)

7 Sites (67.2M Tonnes)

All Other Sites (60.1MTonnes)

76%

24%

Top 15 Sites as % of Total Remaining Landfill Capacity (2014)

15 Sites (96.5M Tonnes)

All Other Sites (30.8MTonnes)

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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for annual daily cover.8 These numbers do not include the nearly 3.4 million tonnes of waste that is exported annually to the United States. In its last report, Michigan indicated that 2.4 million tonnes of Canadian waste was imported,9 while New York’s waste import numbers are consistently around 1 million tonnes. When waste export data is combined with data on waste disposed in Ontario, the total amount of waste sent to landfills by Ontarians in 2014 equates to over 11 million tonnes. This number does not account for the waste received at 134 open industrial landfill sites and over 480 small or remote landfill sites across the province. While the tonnage received at the many small sites has a minimal impact in the overall picture, some of the industrial landfill sites are likely receiving much larger volumes. When comparing OWMA’s data to the latest figures released by Statistics Canada,10 there is a 20% discrepancy (see Figure 6).11 While it is clear that OWMA’s data includes more information than Statistics Canada purports to cover, ensuring the integrity of the data being published is paramount when policy and business decisions are made on the basis of this information. Figure 6 - Comparison of OWMA and Statistics Canada Data on Waste Landfilled by Ontario in 2014 (Tonnes)

Note: The majority of data on Ontario’s public landfills on waste received is for municipal sites, and a few provincial. Very limited data is available for landfills owned by First Nations groups.

8 Some landfill sites are required to include annual daily cover as part of their maximum fill annual rates and some do not. Regardless, for those that do, including this material would reduce their remaining capacity. 9 Report of Solid Waste Landfilled in Michigan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 is available at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/DEQ-OWMRP-SW_Landfill_Annual_Rpt_FY2015_512594_7.pdf. 10 The latest Statistics Canada report - Waste management industry: Business and government sectors, 2012 is available at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150610/dq150610a-eng.htm 11 Statistics Canada data does include waste export.

0

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

OWMA Stats Can

Tonn

es

OWMA (2014) vs. Statistics Canada (2012) Data on Waste Landfilled by Ontario

Statistics Canada (9.0M Tonnes)

New York Exports (1M Tonnes)

Michigan Exports (2.4M Tonnes)

Ontario - Private Landfills (4.5MTonnes)

Ontario - Public Landfills

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Figure 7 provides a more detailed breakdown as to where Ontario’s waste is currently being landfilled. Figure 7 – 2014 Ontario Waste Landfilled as a Percentage (tonnes)

Note: The majority of data on Ontario’s public landfills for waste received is for municipal sites, and a few provincial. Very limited data is available for landfills owned by First Nations groups.

Remaining Capacity in Years Using the current waste disposal rate (11.1 million tonnes) and the remaining capacity of Ontario’s landfill sites (127.3 million tonnes), an estimate of the remaining site life of Ontario’s existing landfills can be calculated. OWMA has taken a conservative approach in order to estimate that life expectancy, by assuming zero growth in waste generation12 and zero growth in waste diversion from current levels.13 While the merits of this can be debated, it provides a point in time calculation. Based on this, Ontario’s existing landfill capacity is estimated to be between 11.4 years (if all waste generated in Ontario was disposed of in Ontario) to 16.5 years (if 30% of Ontario’s waste continues to be sent to the US for disposal). It is important to note that these numbers are more than 5 years below the Ontario government’s current projections.14

12 In 2015, the MOECC predicted a 40% increase in waste generation in the next 35 years (p. 27 of the draft “Strategy for a Waste Free Ontario: Building The Circular Economy”). 13 Based on available data, this is a reasonable assumption as overall diversion rates have remained relatively stagnant and the timelines for new initiatives would not appear to have major impacts, at least in the short-term. 14 The MOECC draft “Strategy for a Waste Free Ontario: Building the Circular Economy” indicates landfill capacity issues in the next 15 to 20 years.

29%

40%

22%

9%

2014 Waste Landfilled by Ontario as a %

Ontario - Public Landfills(3.2M tonnes)

Ontario - Private Landfills(4.5M tonnes)

Michigan Exports (2.4Mtonnes)

New York Exports (1M tonnes)

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Figure 8 – Ontario’s Remaining Landfill Capacity in Years

Financial From a financial perspective, based on the data collected, landfill owners are paying over $8.5 million in host agreements to local communities and over $3.5 million in property taxes or payments-in-lieu-of-taxes. OWMA’s data in this area is still fairly rudimentary and it is likely these numbers are larger. Landfill sites, like most other waste management facilities, are also required to pay financial assurance. Financial assurance is the term used to describe monetary deposits placed into a government-administered fund for future use by the government to protect the public interest in the event of owner or operator default. Typically, the monetary value of financial assurance funding is the present value (or a hybrid thereof) of the future cost of closure and post-closure maintenance of a facility or the cost of an environmental remediation process. In total, the provincial government held approximately $323 million in financial assurance for private landfills in 201415 (See Figure 9).

15 Financial assurance is generally not required for public sites

010,000,00020,000,00030,000,00040,000,00050,000,00060,000,00070,000,00080,000,00090,000,000

100,000,000110,000,000120,000,000130,000,000140,000,000

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030

2031

Tonn

es

Year

Remaining Lifetime Landfill Capacity

Disposal Capacity -30% Export

Disposal Capacity -No Export

Disposal Demand - US& Ontario

State of Waste in Ontario: Landfill Report

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Figure 9 – Financial Assurance Held for Ontario Landfill Sites, Commercial & Industrial)

0

20,000,000

40,000,000

60,000,000

80,000,000

100,000,000

120,000,000

140,000,000

160,000,000

180,000,000

200,000,000

Commercial sites Industrial sites

Dolla

rs ($

)

Financial Assurance Held for Landfill Sites - Commercial vs. Industrial (2014)

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APPENDIX

Page 1 | April 2015

ANNUAL OPERATIONAL LANDFILL REPORT DEFINITIONS

Ontario Waste Management Association: Facility Reporting Program

Waste Type Definitions

Residential Waste

Residential waste refers to waste from primary and seasonal dwellings, which include all single family,

multi-family, high rise and low rise residences.

It includes:

The waste picked up by the municipality, (either using its own staff, or through contracted

companies), and

The waste from residential sources which is self-hauled to depots, transfer stations and landfills.

Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (IC&I) Solid Non-Hazardous Waste

Industrial, commercial and institutional (IC&I) solid non-hazardous waste is the waste generated by all

non-residential sources in a municipality, and is excluded from the residential waste stream.

This includes:

Industrial waste, which is generated by manufacturing, and primary and secondary industries,

and is managed off-site from the manufacturing operation. It is generally picked up under

contract by the private sector;

Commercial Waste

Commercial waste is generated by commercial operations such as shopping centres, offices, etc. Some

commercial waste (from small street-front stores, etc.) may be picked up by the municipal collection

system along with the residential waste;

Institutional Waste

Institutional waste is generated by institutional facilities such as schools, hospitals, government

facilities, senior homes, universities, etc. This waste is generally picked up under contract with the

private sector.

Construction, Renovation and Demolition (CR&D) Waste

Construction, renovation and demolition (CR&D) waste, also referred to as demolition, land-clearing

and construction waste (DLC), refers to waste generated by construction, renovation and demolition

activities. It generally includes materials such as brick, painted wood, drywall, metal, cardboard,

doors, windows, wiring, etc. It excludes materials from land clearing on areas not previously

developed. It excludes materials from land clearing on areas not previously developed. CR&D waste

can come from residential sources such as house renovations or from non-residential sources for

example the construction or demolition of office buildings.

Page 2 | April 2015

Organics

Organics refers to materials that are or were once living, such as leaves, grass, yard trimmings,

agricultural crop residues, wood waste, and paper and paperboard products or food scraps.

Contaminated soil

Contaminated soil refers to soils containing materials that, by their nature, require controlled disposal.

Specified Risk Materials (SRM)

Specified risk materials (SRM) means the skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, palatine tonsils, spinal

cord and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of cattle aged 30 months or older, as well as the distal ileum of

cattle of all ages. Note: The brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, palatine tonsils, spinal cord, dorsal root

ganglia and distal ileum are designated as SRM because, in Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

infected cattle, these tissues contain the BSE agent and may transmit the disease. The OTM skull,

excluding the mandible and horns, is designated as well because of the high probability of it becoming

contaminated at the time of stunning and during manipulation of the other tissues if their separate

removal was permitted.

Municipal / Industrial Biosolids

Municipal / Industrial biosolids includes solid or semisolid material obtained from treated wastewater.

Liquid Industrial Waste

Liquid industrial waste refers to the definition under Ontario Regulation 347.

Hazardous Waste

Hazardous waste includes materials or substances that given their corrosive, inflammable, infectious,

reactive and toxic characteristics, may present a real or potential harm to human health or the

environment. Due to their hazardous nature they require special handling, storing, transportation,

treatment and disposal as specified by the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations (1985),

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act (1988), The Basel Convention (1989), or the Export and

Import of Hazardous Waste Regulations (1992).

Land Disposal Restriction (LDR) Treated Waste

Land disposal restriction (LDR) treated waste refers to hazardous waste stabilized or treated in

compliance with Ontario’s LDR regulations.

Out-of-Province Waste

Out-of-province waste refers to waste generated outside of Ontario.

If you have additional questions please contact the

Ontario Waste Management Association

905-791-9500 or info@owma.org