Universal Resource Recovery Inc. pleaded
guilty to 2 counts of discharging odours into the environment and
was fined $80,000 for each count (total $160,000 + 25% victim fine
surcharge, = $200,000).
The Welland company's composting facility was located in an
area zoned for mixed residential and industrial land uses.It
received organic food waste from municipal green bin programs, and
began to have difficulty controlling odours soon after the facility
opened in 2008.
The guilty pleas were for odour discharges on three days in each
of 2010 and 2011, which caused discomfort to neighbours and loss of
enjoyment of their normal use of property.On several occasions, the
facility had received over the 200 tonne per day limit for food,
leaf, yard and wet waste set out in its Waste Environmental
Compliance Approval (ECA), and had failed to notify the MOE of the
waste exceedences or why these had occurred.It had also breached a
provincial officer's order issued to address
