Beneficial reuse of excess soil is essential for the completion of many undertakings. Simple disposal or stockpiling of excess soil is not a beneficial reuse, even though stockpiling may ultimately enable beneficial reuse when storage is done in accordance with the Excess Soil Regulation and Soil Rules document.
Although not an exhaustive list, examples include:
using soil to backfill an excavation or to assist in the rehabilitation of the reuse site;
achieving a certain grade at the reuse site necessary for development, an infrastructure project, landscaping etc.;
creating berms on roadways, stormwater management ponds, and for other purposes such as visual screening or providing a sound barrier.
Excess soil reuse is a growing concern to the development community challenged with finding acceptable reuse locations and to municipalities who are concerned about the quality of soil being deposited in their municipalities and that local landfill capacity is being reduced by soil disposal that could be reused.
Ontario has finalized and begun the implementation of a new regulation under the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) titled Ontario Regulation 406/19: On-Site and Excess Soil Management (referred to as the Excess Soil Regulation on this website). It is available at: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/190406.
The regulatory changes will “make it safer and easier for more excess soil to be reused locally and will reduce barriers to revitalize historically contaminated lands.” [1]
The Excess Soil Regulation is part of a regulatory framework that:
provides clear rules on managing and reusing excess soil.
limits soil being sent to landfill.
reduces greenhouse gas emissions from soil transportation.
reduces current burden and cost of excess soil management, while continuing to ensure strong environmental protection.
removes barriers to brownfields redevelopment.
Alignment with other EPA Regulations:
To better align with the Excess Soil Regulation, complementary, clarification and burden reduction amendments have been made to O.Reg. 153/04, (Records of Site Condition) Regulation 347 (General: Waste Management) and O.Reg. 351/12 (Registrations under Part ll.2 of the Act – Waste Management Systems)
Together with the Excess Soil Regulation, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) released a document adopted by reference under the regulation, entitled “Rules for Soils Management (Part 1) and Excess Soil Quality Standards (Part 2)” referred to as the Rules document on this website. This is a document adopted by reference in the regulation that contains two parts:
Part I: Rules for Soil Management
Part II: Excess Soil Quality Standards
This document can be found at the following location: https://files.ontario.ca/mecp-soil-rules-en-2020-12-21.pdf.
In effect as of January 1, 2021 are the following:
Rules for reuse of excess soil in an undertaking, including new excess soil quality standards clarifying the quality of excess soil that can be safely reused at a various types of reuse sites.
Clarifies how the waste designation applies to the general management of excess soil, including conditions that, if met, prevent excess soil at a reuse site from attracting the waste designation, including that the excess soil will be reused for a beneficial purpose and that the quality and quantity of the excess soil are appropriate for that purpose.
For specified low-risk activities, if regulatory rules are satisfied, a waste-related Environmental Compliance Approval would not be required.
In effect as of January 1, 2022 are the following:
Requirements for some larger reuse sites, being those that are receiving 10,000 m3 or more for an undertaking. These include completing a notice on the registry and implementing procedures to inspect and prevent adverse effects related to excess soil received.
Requirements for project leaders for certain projects generating excess soil from project areas (also known as source sites), such as site assessments and if necessary soil sampling and characterization, that will be relevant for reuse site operators.
Requirements for haulers of excess soil related to carrying an electronic or physical excess soil hauling record for each load of excess soil (which includes dry soil and liquid soil) being transported. These requirements will result in information that will be helpful for a reuse site operator to confirm if excess soil from a project area is appropriate for reuse in their undertaking.
The Excess Soil Regulation and Rules document defer to a by-law or related permit on matters of quality and/or quantity if a permit is in place at the reuse site. But, at various kinds of sites (including reuse sites and Class 2 soil management sites) the requirements of a by-law or permit may exist in addition to provincial requirements set out in the Excess Soil and Rules document. It is important when developing by-laws to review the Excess Soil Regulation and Rules document in detail. The by-law or permit should generally be consistent with the regulation except where additional requirements and rules may be needed.
Continue reading at the Overview of Regulation page.
References
[1] ERO Decision No. 013-5000 MECP
“Excess Soil” and “Fill”
Most municipal by-laws reference “Fill” which could speak to materials that go beyond what the regulation defines as excess soil:
The Excess Soil Regulation defines “excess soil” as “soil, crushed rock or soil mixed with rock or crushed rock, that has been excavated as part of a project and removed from the project area for the project”
“Fill” could encompass additional materials such as: compost, engineered fill products, asphalt, concrete, reused or recycled aggregate product and/or mine tailings, other products, including soil mixed with debris/ refuse.
From the municipal perspective, Excess Soil can be understood to be a subset of Fill.
Quick Links to Key Resources:
Information related to the Excess Soil Regulation can be found on the Ministry’s excess soil webpage, including additional factsheets and best practices. You may also directly reference the Excess Soil Regulation and the Rules document, the Soil Quality Standards and the Beneficial Reuse Assessment Tool (BRAT) and related Guide in the REFERENCES section of this website.