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
