Province wants to change deadstock incinerator rules

 

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs wants to amend the Nutrient Management Act to place new requirements on the incinerators used to dispose of deadstock.

“We are proposing to amend  (the regulations) to remove the reference to ETV Canada” standards for the incinerators to:

 - Allow for an incinerator type that has been issued a verification certificate under the former ETV (Environmental Technology Verification) Canada program.

-       Allow for any incinerator of a type that has been issued a verification statement in accordance with the ISO 14034:2016 standard (as amended from time to time) stating it can meet the above-mentioned performance criteria.

 _ Clarify that verification certificates or statements need only be issued once for a given incinerator type to meet the regulatory requirements (i.e. verification certificates would continue to be valid irrespective of expiry dates).

 

“We are also exploring potential alternatives to the ETV process for establishing incinerator performance. Obtaining a Verification Certificate through the ETV process is expensive and can be a challenge for individual operators and may unduly prevent otherwise well designed and effective incinerator,” said the OMAFRA posting on the province’s regulatory registry.

“Incineration is a useful method for disposing of dead farm animals that provides logistical and biosecurity advantages to certain operations. However, incinerator use must be balanced with sufficient requirements to ensure human health and the environment are protected,” the posting said.

The proposals are open for comment until Feb. 20.