Peterborough ON (2/17/2015) – Buckham Transport Limited was fined $120,000 for providing false or misleading information to a Provincial Officer, for failing to transport waste to the receiving facility named on manifests, and for failing to comply with a ministry order, contrary to the Environmental Protection Act.

Buckham Transport Limited is a registered carrier of hazardous waste materials. The company is located in the Township of Otonabee-South Monaghan, County of Peterborough.

Buckham operates a waste transfer and processing facility which collects a broad range of both hazardous and non-hazardous waste along with liquid industrial waste from a variety of sources. The waste is then bulked, mixed and shipped to landfills or to other appropriate handling facilities for permanent disposal or recycling.

On July 20, 2011, a nearby resident reported to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) that there was a smoldering fire at the Buckham processing site. The fire department and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were dispatched and company officials were present on scene. The fire had started in a bin used by Buckham for bulking together solid hazardous wastes.

Following the fire, the ministry issued an order to Buckham on August 4, 2011. Among other items, the order prohibited Buckham from bulking solid hazardous waste until such time as a provincial officer had provided written notification that Buckham had addressed other issues to the satisfaction of the ministry.

On or about September 7, 2011, Buckham employees violated the order when they bulked together solid hazardous wastes consisting of paint cans, in the hazardous solid waste mixing bin where the fire had started in July, 2011. The waste remained in the bin until September 12, 2011, when it was discovered by ministry staff during an inspection.

Prior to this ministry staff had met with Buckham on August 12, 2011, to discuss the company’s failure to comply with a condition of its Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) that required the removal of historical waste from the site by August 10, 2011. Following discussions with Buckham, on August 17, 2011, the MOECC provided an extended deadline of November 30, 2011 for the removal of the historical waste.

On December 1, 2011, a Provincial Officer communicated with Buckham’s Regulatory Compliance Officer who confirmed that all the historical waste had been removed from the site. This statement was false and misleading. Starting on November 29, 2011, Buckham loaded the historical waste onto five trailers and hauled the trailers to various locations, including a parking lot in Ajax. However, all of these trailers with the historical waste were eventually returned to the Buckham site, the first returning on November 29, 2011 and the last on December 7, 2011. Buckham did not advise the ministry that all of the historical waste had been returned to its site.

The manifests for two of the trailers of the historical waste named a facility in Quebec as the receiving facility for the waste. The trailers were never taken to the facility in Quebec. Instead, they were left in a parking lot in Ajax for five days, then hauled to a facility in Kingston, and finally returned to Buckham’s site on December 7, 2011.

Buckham pleaded guilty to three offences under the Environmental Protection Act for providing false or misleading information to a Provincial Officer, for failing to promptly transport waste to the receiving facility named on the manifest, and for failing to comply with a ministry order.

The business was fined a total of $120,000 plus victim fine surcharges totaling $30,000 and was given 2 years to pay the fines.

Contact: Kate Jordan Communications Branch (416) 314-6666