Hazardous waste – Importation

Requirements for importing hazardous waste and hazardous recyclables.

Overview

The Waste Control Regulation requires that the importation of any quantity of hazardous recyclables must have written authorization from the Minster of Environment and Protected Areas. Persons importing hazardous waste for the purpose of storage exceeding 30 days must also obtain written authorization from the Minister. Application forms for each of the Ministerial Authorizations are below.

Oilfield Waste Management Facilities requesting Ministerial Authorization should describe the hazardous waste or hazardous recyclables using waste codes from Directive 058 while industrial facilities should describe the waste using the waste codes from the Industrial Waste Identification and Management Options document.

Limitations on disposal

The Waste Control Regulation prohibits the importation of hazardous waste for the purpose of disposal. This limitation does not apply to the residues generated from the treatment of hazardous waste. Residues that remain hazardous after treatment must be managed at a facility approved to recycle, treat or dispose of the substance.

Facilities and persons who import hazardous waste and hazardous recyclables and do not directly recycle or treat them must either send them to a facility approved to treat or recycle them or export the items. To prevent receiving facilities from directly disposing of imported hazardous waste or hazardous recyclable, the receiving facility should be notified by the importing company that the waste or recyclables were generated from outside the province.

More information on facilities can be found at:

Federal Legislation

Cross border shipments of hazardous waste and hazardous recyclables is regulated by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Under these regulations a hazardous waste manifest is required for all cross border shipments; therefore, a receiver Personal Identification Number (PIN) will also be required for the importation of both hazardous waste and hazardous recyclables. Applications for Hazardous Waste Receiver PINs can be found under the PIN Registration section at:

Recycle dockets cannot be used for exportation of hazardous recyclables; these shipments must use a hazardous waste manifest.

The term ‘Movement Document’ used in Federal regulation is analogous to the term ‘Manifest’ used in Provincial regulation and refers to the same shipping document.