Barrie waste company fined $320,000 for discharge to Lovers Creek

The site has been issued several orders over the years to come into compliance, following water samples taken in 2010 that exceeded water quality guidelines

From Solid Waste & Recycling Magazine

An Ontario hazardous waste processing company, and its directors, have been fined a total of $320,000 for permitting a discharge of contaminated material from an industrial sewage works and then twice failing to respond to the issue.

The violations by Barrie-based 2R Services Inc. are addressed under the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Water Resources Act.

2R Services directors Ludovit Bodnar and Peter Weinwurm operate the hazardous waste storage, transfer and processing facility on Churchill Drive in Barrie. From this facility, the company operates a sewage works that discharges into Lovers Creek. The site has been issued several orders over the years to come into compliance with the ministry issued Certificate of Approval, following water samples taken in 2010 that exceeded water quality guidelines.

In April, 2011, a Provincial Officer’s Order was issued to assess the impacts to the environment. The order was not followed. Violations of the ministry approval were identified and the matter was forwarded to the ministry’s investigation team.

The investigation resulted in charges for failing to comply with the ministry approval, failing to comply with both a Provincial Officer and a Director’s Order, and failing to take reasonable care to prevent the business from permitting a discharge of contaminated material from an Industrial Sewage Works, in contravention of the ministry approval.

In August, 2011, a Provincial Officer’s Order was issued to the business, Bodnar and Weinwurm. The Order stipulated that no waste could be received or shipped off-site until approval was granted by the issuing Officer, and a detailed inventory of all waste on-site was required for approval.

Subsequently, a Director’s Order was issued with three main requirements; waste removal and decommissioning of the site, removal of contaminated soil located off-site at a tributary to Lovers Creek, and a requirement for the provision of financial assurance to cover the costs of site waste disposal.

This order was not complied with, and the matter was referred for investigation.
In both investigations, the 2R Services, Ludovit (Lou) Bodnar and Peter Weinwurm failed to comply with a Director’s order relating to the storage, removal, and cleaning of waste, exceeding ministry standards, failing to ship the waste off-site to an approved ministry site, and failing to prevent the corporation from contravening the Act and the Order.

A sentencing hearing related to restitution will occur from December 15 through 17, 2014, at which time sentencing for Weinwurm’s four remaining offences will also be addressed.

2R Services, pleaded guilty to seven offences and was fined $260,000. Bodnar pleaded guilty to five offences and was fined $57,500, and Weinwurm pleaded guilty to five offences and was fined $2,500 for one offence only.

Victim fine surcharges totalling $80,000 have been imposed. Weinwurm has paid his fine, while 2R Services was given one year to pay the fine and two years for Bodnar.

AWARE Simcoe note: For background on Lovers Creek, see this LSRCA watershed plan.