REGULATIONS AND POLICY

Canadian PCB Regulations and Policy

Overview | Federal | Ontario | Quebec | Federal-Provincial

EPA and OWRA | Regulation 347 - General-Waste Management | Regulation 362 - Waste Management-PCBs | Regulation 352 - Mobile PCB Destruction Facilities

Ontario Regulation 362 - Waste Management-PCBs

Objectives
To maintain records of PCB waste storage and to track movements of PCB waste.

Also imposes obligation on seller of such sites to advise the prospective purchaser, tenant or person taking possession of the site, of the existence of the site and the legal requirements attached to it, and to advise the Director of any sale or change in possession within ten days.

Definitions and relevant thresholds
"PCBs" are both mono- and polychlorinated biphenyls.

"PCB waste" includes "PCB liquid" and "PCB materials", which in turn are defined as having at least 50 ppm PCBs by weight. In the case of liquids for use in oiling roads, the threshold is 5 ppm PCBs by weight. Also, liquids that are diluted contrary to section 6 are included, making them subject to the regulation even if they fall below the above PCB concentrations.

"PCB equipment" is also included in "PCB waste", but does not include a capacitor that has never contained over 1 kg of PCB, and does not include equipment still in use or in storage for a person who uses such equipment. "PCB wastes" also do not include those that have been decontaminated in accordance with Ministry guidelines or Director's orders, and does not include "PCB liquids" that are used for PCB destruction.

PCB waste disposal site is not defined, but "every site containing "PCB waste" and "PCB related waste" [meaning "waste containing low levels of PCBs, or waste arising from a spill or clean up of PCB liquid or PCB waste"], but not containing other waste" is classified as a PCB waste disposal site (subs. 3 (1)).

Description
Section 6 prohibits the disposal, decontamination, or management of PCB waste, or dilution of PCB waste that is in the form of a liquid, except in or to a waste management system operating under a Certificate of Approval containing terms for storage, handling, treatment, collection, transport, processing, dilution or disposal of PCB waste, or in accordance with written instructions of the Director.

Section 7 requires safe and secure storage of PCB waste, in order to prevent it coming into contact with any person, and to allow escaping liquid containing PCBs to be recovered readily, or to prevent it discharging directly or indirectly into groundwater.

Record-keeping and reporting obligations for "PCB waste disposal sites" receiving or transferring PCB wastes include the following:

Operators must report "the methods and times at which the PCB waste is received and delivered to and from the site" (subsections 4 (2) and 5 (2) of Reg. 362), the locations from or to which it is transported and name of the transporter; the nature and quantities of the waste; the location of the site; and the methods of storage.

Reporting must occur immediately by telephone when PCB waste first comes on site, and then in writing within three days. Reporting must occur in writing within thirty days "after any other PCB waste is taken to or from the site".

Transfers reported under ss. 23-25 of Reg. 347 (manifests for transport within, out of and through Ontario) satisfies this reporting requirement.

Where PCB waste "has been finally disposed of by burial" before January 1981, an operator of a waste disposal site is not required to keep records of such waste after January 1982.

A PCB waste disposal site is also exempt from s. 27 (C of A required for a waste disposal site or waste management system), s. 40 (prohibiting the deposit of waste at a site that doesn't have a C of A) and s. 41 (prohibiting use of facilities or equipment for waste disposal without a C of A), as long as:

The site receives Director's instructions for the removal of waste containing more than fifty litres of PCB liquid;

For transfers of less than fifty litres or for any other PCB waste, Director's instructions must be given only if the transfer is to a waste disposal site or waste management system to which a C of A has not been issued that includes terms for handling PCB waste;

PCB liquid can only be removed from a container if it is leaking, and only on the instruction of the Director; and

A C of A detailing the handling of PCB waste has already been issued to the site (at any time since January 1981).

Comment
The regulation may have the benefit of acting as a disincentive to unauthorized movements of PCBs.

Some wastes containing PCBs may, however, escape this regulation because of the threshold definitions, with a possible result being that the Ministry and the public are not aware of the existence or location of many PCBs in diffuse locations throughout Ontario.

For example, PCB waste disposal sites are only those sites containing "PCB waste"; this does not account for those sites that may contain PCBs below the thresholds set by the definition of "PCB waste".

Another example is that while "hazardous waste" as defined in Reg. 347 includes "PCB waste" as defined in Reg. 362, "hazardous waste" specifically does not include "an acute hazardous waste chemical … accumulated in an amount less than five kilograms" ("acute hazardous chemical waste chemical" can include specified chemicals combined "with any other waste or chemical"). This may mean the exclusion of small quantities of PCBs mixed with other chemicals. Similarly, exceptions include empty containers that formerly contained toxic materials, and contaminated materials from small spills.

Subsection 8 (a), exempting owners/operators of sites containing PCB wastes buried before 1982 from record-keeping obligations, may mean that significant amounts of wastes are unknown and unmonitored.

Finally, a regulatory inconsistency may result from the fact that the transfer of waste containing less than fifty litres of PCB liquid to a site or system authorized to receive PCB waste may be subject to different rules than a transfer of waste containing fifty litres or more of PCB liquid, in which case "Director's instructions" are required. Taking this point further, without examining individual Certificates of Approval and Director's instructions for PCB sites and systems, it is impossible to comment on their consistency and coverage province-wide.