City of Hamilton charged in relation to 2018 odour issues at Central Composting Facility

HAMILTON, ON – On November 25, the City of Hamilton received a summons from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation & Parks (MECP) in relation to the 2018 odour issues at the contractor-operated Central Composting Facility (CCF).

As per the summons, the City and several contractors have been charged with discharging or permitting the discharge of a contaminant (odour) contrary to the Environmental Protection Act. As such, the City is required to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice on February 3, 2021.

As a result of the odour issues, the MECP initiated an investigation, which the City has fully cooperated with. City representatives will attend the court date in February and a further update will be available after City Council has an opportunity to hear the outcome of the court appearance.

Quick Facts

• In June 2018, the City voluntarily shut down its Central Composting Facility in response to odour complaints in the surrounding neighbourhoods.
• Before reopening the facility in February 2019, the City made several operational and procedural changes, including:
• Reducing the process capacity to one third of the original design
• Accepting and processing material from the City of Hamilton only, and not from other municipalities
• Eliminating the use of the curing building and curing compost either in the main processing building or offsite at a third-party processor
• Banning grass and leaf and yard waste from the Green Bin program
• Additional operational performance monitoring including implementation of additional key performance indicators for the air quality control system
• Hiring a third-party company to patrol the surrounding neighbourhoods for air quality impacts (now concluded)
• The current contractor has been operating the CCF since 2006.

Additional Resources

•  Yard Waste Program
• Waste & Recycling Programs