Environmental

Regulated Facilities

The regulation applies to regulated facilities in Ontario at which manufacturing activities or mineral processing activities take place involving toxic substances in the form specified in Schedule 1 of the NPRI Notice (Parts 1-5). The facilities must meet prescribed criteria including thresholds for the use and creation of toxic substances and number of employees. The thresholds are the same as those established for the National Pollutant Release Inventory and those adopted from O.Reg.127/01 made under the Environmental Protection Act for acetone. The regulation requires about 2,000 facilities to report to the Ministry of the Environment and the public on their use and creation of toxic substances. It also requires facilities to prepare toxics substance reduction plans and provide a summary of that plan to the public. Information collected from facilities through the reporting requirements of the act will be made available to the public so that Ontarians can be aware of toxic substances being used and created around them, as well as the actions facilities are taking to reduce them.

While accounting, planning and reporting for prescribed toxic substances is mandatory, implementation of the toxic substance reduction plans is voluntary.

Regulated facilities are required to:

• Track, account and report on the use, creation and release of toxic substances during the manufacturing process on an annual basis
• Plan for the reduction of each toxic substance
• Prepare and submit a summary of the plan
• Submit annual reports on progress they make on their reduction plans
• Update these plans at least every five years.

The first reports from facilities covering the 2010 calendar year were due by June 15, 2011. The first reporting requirements covered 47 priority substances. Facilities that use or create a substance listed in the NPRI, but which is not listed as a priority substance in the regulation, would provide their first report to the ministry by June 1, 2013, covering the calendar year 2012. Facilities would complete a plan and provide a summary of their plan to the public and the ministry by December 31, 2013. Toxic Substances Covered by Regulation Toxics are substances that may harm the environment and/or health of living organisms, including humans, wildlife and plants.

The substances identified as toxic substances in the regulation include all of the substances on the federal National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) as well as acetone (adopted from O.Reg.127/01 made under the Environmental Protection Act). The roughly 350 substances in the NPRI have been identified by the federal government as being of concern to human health and the environment.

The Toxics Reduction Act references two different types of substances: - toxic substances - substances of concern

For toxic substances prescribed by regulation, regulated owners and operators of manufacturing and mineral processing facilities are required to track and quantify the toxic substances that they use and create, develop plans to reduce these substances, share summaries of their plans with the public and make annual reports on the results of their tracking and quantifying as well as their progress in implementing their plans. A number of toxic substances have been prioritized for initial implementation of regulatory requirements in 2010 (Phase 1). These Phase 1 toxic substances (List of Priority Toxics) are listed in Table A of the regulation. The remainder of the substances on the National Pollutant Release Inventory are prescribed as toxic substances for Phase 2 of the Strategy, starting in 2012.

National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) under Subsection 46(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. NPRI is a nationally legislated publicly accessible inventory. It tracks on-site releases of pollutants to the air, water, land & underground; off-site transfers for recovery, re-use, recycling & energy recovery. Annual review of materials processed, manufactured or otherwise used.