organics diversion

OWMA is supportive of the approach to the proposed policy changes as it strikes a good balance of increased organic waste diversion and the use of farm co-digestion as an option while promoting best management practices for nutrient management. In this submission, OWMA identifies a few specific concerns to ensure clarity and a balanced approach.

Call for Papers: Interested in presenting at the 2020 CWRC?

This conference is of primary interest to waste generators, stewards, brand owners, municipalities, private waste sector companies and property management companies. If you are involved in any of the following; you will gain insight and be able to share ideas with facility owners and operators, regulators and policymakers, academia and students.

Presentations at the conference will be assigned to different ‘tracks’ outlined in the Call for Papers form. Speaking opportunities include: general sessions, opening keynotes, a closing speaker. Members of the CWRC Annual Conference Committee are responsible for ranking proposals, speakers, and timelines of topics. Share your insight and knowledge by presenting a paper at the 11th Canadian Waste to Resource Conference (CWRC). Conference speakers gain visibility in the sector, as well as contribute to the advancement of the profession. Presentation papers relating to all areas of waste management will be considered.

The deadline for submission of papers is February 7th, 2020.

Call for Poster Presentations: Submit your research and/or study for presentation at the 2020 CWRC!

Each year the CWRC provides an opportunity for professors and students to
showcase their research to waste and recycling sector experts from government,
municipalities and leading waste management organizations. Poster presenters will have a chance to present their findings during the conference in the poster exhibit area located in a central event space

The CWRC is recognized across the country as “the place to be” for waste management professionals, providing exposure opportunities for research outcomes and for students, or academia looking to establish links within the sector.

The deadline to submit your poster presentation is August 15, 2020.

The OWMA has submitted a response to the MOECC EBR posting on a framework for managing food and organic waste in Ontario.

The submission was prepared by the OWMA Organics Diversion committee and reflects the association’s position on organics diversion.

The OWMA sent this letter to Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray to show the association's support for the development of an Organics Action Plan, which was a key committment of the provincial government indicated in Premier Kathleen Wynne's mandate letter to Minister Murray.

The 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 is an annual publication, which is continually being expanded and refined based on the needs of the sector. The First Annual State of Waste in Ontario: Organics Report determined there are 76 organic processing facilities in Ontario. To access the report, click here.

Special to OWMA News

By Paul van der Werf

There is a growing conversation among policymakers, producers and waste management professionals about the amount of food waste generated in the developed world.

To date, countries, like Canada, have been relying on very general, indirect estimates of food loss and food waste along the supply chain to support local and national strategies to tackle this challenge.

These estimates are typically calculated by taking old food-commodity-waste-estimate factors and multiplying them with food commodities available for consumption.

The problem is that this calculation involves no actual food waste measurement. Approaching this issue in this way is akin to building the roof of a house before you have built the foundation and the walls.

While this approach identifies that a considerable amount of food is wasted, it does little to help us develop, implement and measure the effectiveness of food waste reduction initiatives.

My colleague, Dr. Jason Gillard, and I took a serious look at this challenge in our recently published paper, “A systematic review of food losses and food waste generation in developed countries.”

This review argues that current indirect estimates, beyond their public service in identifying a problem, are of very little use in solving the problem of food waste.

Instead, we propose that developed countries should adopt a standardized and direct measurement of food waste. Efforts in this regard are ongoing, including in Ontario where some municipalities and some food processors are beginning to measure food waste this way.

To learn more, download our paper for free by clicking here. If you have any comments or questions about this research, please send me an email at 2cg@sympatico.ca. 

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.

Last year, the OWMA released the first ‘State of Waste in Ontario’ report on organics processing. This is part of a major data collection and analysis initiative by OWMA to better understand data related to waste management in the province. The 2^nd annual report is especially significant because the government’s Waste-Free Ontario strategy identifies organic waste as a key focus. The information in this report will help support future policy decisions for the waste management sector; enable those in the industry to make better business decisions; and provide more detailed information to inform and educate the broader public.  While the database is more comprehensive and accurate than anything currently in place, several improvements can and still will be made to enhance this important source of information.

The OWMA continues to make progress on behalf of its members by working with the government to identify areas to modernize environmental compliance approvals (ECAs) for activities and facilities in the waste management sector.

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) intends to move forward with several reforms to approvals related to financial assurance, brownfields remediation, organics diversion, renewable natural gas and processing facilities.

MOECC held a meeting with industry representatives on April 4 to discuss the steps the provincial government is taking to modernize ECAs and register certain activities on the Environmental Activities and Sector Registry (EASR). There were several important updates at the meeting that concern the waste management sector.

First, the government says it will issue a Request for Bids near the end of April to solicit proposals on assessing the feasibility of moving 15 activities that involve air emissions to EASR registration over the next three years. MOECC staff said renewable natural gas will be a priority focus for this project.

Second, the government says it has an initiative “in progress” to move the assessment and payment for financial assurance away from a paper-based system to the electronic Environmental Compliance Approval System (eECAS).

Third, the government is conducting a pilot project to approve wastewater treatment technologies using ISO 14034 Environmental management -- Environmental technology verification (ETV). This standard helps to assess and verify innovative new technologies to which current government standards cannot be easily applied. Companies that receive verification under this standard will be able to accelerate the approval process for newly developed technologies.

MOECC staff say their intention is to use this same standard to assess new technologies in the waste management sector, specifically for anaerobic digestion, waste processing facilities and the remediation of contaminated sites.

Fourth, the government says it intends to soon post proposed amendments on the Environmental Registry to add clarifications to the Record of Site Condition (RSC) Regulation (Reg. 153/04) and to reduce the administrative burden associated with the development of brownfield sites. One way the government plans to ease the burden is using Qualified Professionals (QP) for routine sign-offs.

For example, one regulatory amendment under consideration would allow a QP to approve the deposit of fill on a property if he or she can demonstrate that the substances in the soil “do not exceed local naturally occurring concentrations of that substance and [the] soil was deposited prior to the Environmental Site Assessment work.”

After making a series of initial regulatory amendments, the government plans to create a “QP Supporting Framework.” MOECC is currently conducting a pilot project in which QPs are using a checklist to complete a Record of Site Condition (RSC) and a Risk Assessment (RA).

According to the government, MOECC is in the planning stages developing a “brownfields electronic service delivery” system to support RSC and RA administration.

Fifth, the government stated that it plans to reform several more approval processes for the waste management sector over the next 12 to 18 months. These include EASR registration, or even exemptions, for certain activities related to the following:

•     Alternative fuels production, and biogas and bioenergy facilities;
•     Waste transfer and processing facilities (possible exemptions could include EASR registration for municipal facilities that store waste);
•     The organics diversion sector (possible exemptions could include EASR registration for community composting facilities).

All of these proposed reforms would support the government’s broader objective to modernize approvals. The government began its modernization efforts in 2011 with aim of replacing Certificates of Approval with ECAs and EASR registration. These efforts must align with the government’s broader priorities under Ontario’s Open for Business and Digital Governance initiatives, as well as the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services, more commonly referred to as the Drummond Report.

Read the third installment in the OWMA's leading publication series: ReThink Waste. This report was prepared in partnership with the Biogas Association of Canada and the Compost Council of Canada. The recommendations contained in this report have had a noticeable impact on the development of organic waste management policies in Ontario. To download the report, click here.