Federal Laws

There are several Federal legislative and policy requirements that automotive recyclers must respect in the Code of Practice for automotive recyclers located on Federal Lands.

The Federal Acts that have a bearing on the activities of automotive recyclers are the:

Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act (TDG);
Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA); and,
Fisheries Act;

Within CEPA, there are several regulations that could influence automotive recyclers that are located on Federal Lands. The germane regulations under CEPA are:

Ozone-depleting Substances Regulations, 1998;
Federal Halocarbon Regulations, 2003;
Interprovincial Movement of Hazardous Waste Regulations, 2002;
Export and Import of Hazardous Wastes Regulations, 1992;
Environmental Emergency Regulations, 2003.

In addition, the automotive recyclers located on Federal lands (including Indian Act Reserves and Treaty Lands) will be subject to the Treasury Board Federal Contaminated Sites and Solid Waste Landfills Inventory Policy. The automotive recyclers on Indian Act Reserves are subject to the Indian and Northern Affairs Contaminated Sites Policy.

Application

The following document sites various Federal policies, acts and regulations that could have an impact on automotive recyclers located on Federal Lands. Most automotive recyclers are located on provincial lands; however, some are located on Federal lands including Indian Act Reserves. The following table provides a summary of the applicability of Federal policies and legislation depending on the location of the property.

Federal Policies

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The Treasury Board Federal Contaminated Sites and Solid Waste Landfills Inventory Policy is the only environmental policy that would affect automotive recyclers located on Federal lands.

The policy requires that custodial departments establish and maintain a database of contaminated sites on their lands and the information is provided to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat for incorporation into a Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory.

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada

The Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) Contaminated Sites Management Policy provides an appropriate level of direction in order to meet the requirements of the Treasury Board while supporting the principles of its Sustainable Development Strategy.

The policy is intended to provide guidance for the management of contaminated sites located on reserve lands, on federal lands north of the 60th parallel, and on any other lands under INAC’s custodial responsibility. INAC is committed to managing contaminated sites in a cost-effective and consistent manner, to reduce and eliminate, where possible, risk to human and environmental health and liability associated with contaminated sites.

Automotive recyclers on Indian Act Reserves would be affected by this and related INAC policies.

Applicability of Federal Policies, Acts and Regulations

Jurisdiction	Federal Policies	Federal Acts	Federal Regulations
Provincial Lands	Not Applicable	Applicable	Applicable
Federal Lands (including Indian Act Reserves)	Treasury Board Federal Contaminated Sites Policy	Applicable	Applicable
	Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) Contaminated Sites Management Policy
Treaty Lands	Not Applicable	Applicable	Applicable

Based on the above table, automotive recyclers located on Provincial and Federal Lands must comply with the Federal Acts and Regulations. In addition, the automotive recyclers located on Federal Lands must comply with the Treasury Board’s Contaminated Sites Policy and INAC’s Contaminated Sites Management Policy (if applicable).

Federal Legislation

Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act

In Canada, no person shall handle, offer for transport, transport or import on Federal roads and highways, any dangerous goods unless the:

(a) person complies with all applicable prescribed safety requirements;

(b) goods are accompanied by all applicable prescribed documents; and,

(c) means of containment and transport comply with all applicable prescribed safety standards and display all applicable prescribed safety marks.

The Federal Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations provides the specific requirements for automotive recyclers (or their contractor) that are transporting oils, mercury or lead acid batteries. Used oil is a Class 3 Dangerous Good while mercury and lead acid batteries are Class 8 Dangerous Goods. All three substances are categorized in the Packing Group 3 indicating that while the hazard level of is low, adequate precautions (as outlined in the Code of Practice) are required by the transporter.

The TDG Act is an important piece of legislation; however, the number of federal roads in Canada is limited. The Trans-Canada Highway is the best example of a Federal road. Most other roads are under Provincial jurisdiction; however, equivalent Provincial TDG legislation provides equivalency.

Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999) has a variety of Sections and associated Regulations that are germane to activities conducted by automotive recyclers.

CEPA 1999 states that the protection of the environment is essential to the well-being of Canadians and that the primary purpose of CEPA 1999 is to contribute to sustainable development through pollution prevention. Pollution prevention includes the appropriate management of toxic products used by automotive recyclers and the toxic substances that should be removed from end-of-life vehicles.

Schedule 1 of CEPA 1999 lists all substances that have been determined to be toxic as defined by the Act. The following compounds, that may be associated with automotive recycling, are found on Schedule 1:

Chlorofluorocarbons (e.g., R-12)
Carbon tetrachloride solvents;
Lead;
Mercury;
Volatile Organic Compounds including Methane, HFC134a;

There are provisions in CEPA 1999 to manage toxic substances. These include the authority to create regulations and to use non-regulatory management approaches such as Pollution Prevention Planning (Part 4) and Environmental Emergency Planning (Part 8).

The Federal Minister of Environment issued on December 29, 2007 a Gazette Notice requiring the preparation and implementation of pollution prevention plans in respect of mercury releases from mercury switches in end-of-life vehicles processed by steel mills. While the Pollution Prevention Plan prepared by industry has not been made public, the focus will be on the recovery of mercury switches located in hood and trunk convenience lights and ABS sensors.

In addition to the recent Gazette Notice for mercury, there are four regulations under CEPA that influence the management of hazardous materials by automotive recyclers. The four regulations are:

The Federal Halocarbon Regulations;
The Ozone-depleting Substances Regulations;
The Interprovincial Movement of Hazardous Wastes Regulations; and,
The Export and Import of Hazardous Wastes Regulations.

Currently, the Minister has not enacted any of the provisions within CEPA 1999 specific to automotive recyclers; however, there are four regulations under CEPA that could have an influence on the management of hazardous materials by automotive recyclers. The four regulations are:

The Federal Halocarbon Regulations;
The Ozone-depleting Substances Regulations;
The Interprovincial Movement of Hazardous Wastes Regulations; and,
The Export and Import of Hazardous Wastes Regulations.

Federal Halocarbon Regulations

The Federal Halocarbon Regulations (FHR) only applies to recovery systems that are owned by the Crown or are located on Federal or Indian Act Lands. The regulation sets the terms and conditions by which automotive recyclers on Federal and Indian Act Lands recover refrigerants in end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). The FHR states that no person shall release, or allow or cause the release of a halocarbon unless the release results from the purge system emits less than 0.1 kg of halocarbons per kilogram of air purged to the environment.

The FHR applies to both R12 and HFC-134a and automotive recyclers located on federal lands. .

Ozone-depleting Substances Regulations

The Ozone-depleting Substances Regulation (OSR) is the primary implementation mechanism for the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. The OSR controls the import and export of refrigerants from Canada and the regulation applies to R12 (not HFC-134a).

The OSR regulation states that no person shall:

·import or export a controlled substance (e.g., R-12) from or to a State that has not signed the Montreal Protocol;
import, without a permit (issued under paragraph 33(1)(a) of the OSR), a controlled substance that is recovered, recycled, reclaimed, used or for destruction; or,
export a controlled substance without a permit (issued under paragraph 33(1)(b) of the OSR).

Automotive recyclers should ensure that if they (or their contractor), remove R-12 from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) that the general provisions of the OSR are followed. This would include determining the fate of the R-12 after it was removed from ELVs.

Fortunately, the use of R-12 was banned in 1995 and is only found in ELVs that were manufactured prior to that year. As a result, ELVs with R-12 are becoming rare and in time, the germane sections of the OSR regulation will not be relevant to automotive recyclers.

Interprovincial Movement of Hazardous Wastes Regulations

The Interprovincial Movement of Hazardous Waste Regulations (IMHWR) applies to the transport within Canada of hazardous waste. Among other substances, the IMHWR applies to the interprovincial transportation of 5L or more of used oil (TDG Class 3) or 5kg or more of mercury or lead-acid batteries (TDG Class 8).

The IMHWR requires that no person shall transport the above quantities of used oil, mercury or lead-acid batteries within Canada unless the waste is accompanied by a manifest in accordance with these Regulations.

The vast majority of automotive recyclers contract the transportation and disposal of hazardous substances to waste management contractors. It is possible that the waste management contractors could transport the hazardous materials across Provincial boarders. As a result of this possibility, automotive recyclers must know the fate of the hazardous materials generated on site and ensure that the waste management contractors are in compliance with the provisions of the IMHWR if the materials are shipped across Provincial boarders.

Export and Import of Hazardous Wastes Regulations

The Export and Import of Hazardous Waste Regulations (EIHWR) governs the movement of hazardous substances across international boarders. Under the EIHWR, the export of hazardous waste is permitted under a variety of circumstances.

Automotive recyclers typically contract with waste management companies to manage and dispose of their hazardous materials. It is possible that the waste management companies could export hazardous substances across international boarders.

As a result of this possibility, automotive recyclers must know the fate of the hazardous materials generated on site and ensure that the waste management contractors are in compliance with the provisions of the EIHWR if the materials are shipped across International boarders.

Fisheries Act

The Fisheries Act (FA) provides for the protection of fish and fish habitat in Canada. The FA is the Federal legislation that provides the greatest influence on the activities of automotive recyclers as it simply prohibits the deposit of substances into fish bearing waters that are deleterious or harmful to fish.

Automotive recyclers need to be aware of the provisions of the FA and understand that most hazardous materials used on site or recovered from end-of-life vehicles are harmful to fish. A simple rule of thumb is that if the product has or had a consumer or WHIMS poison symbol on the label, the product is deleterious and harmful to fish.

Automotive recyclers must be aware that virtually every stream, tributary and ditch would be considered by Fishers and Oceans Canada as a fish bearing stream. Consequently, the runoff of hazardous products to ditches, storm drains and small streams will eventually end up in fish bearing waters and the automotive recycler would be in violation of the Fisheries Act.

Summary

Automotive recyclers are subject to a wide variety of policies, acts and regulations and requirements will vary depending on the jurisdiction. Yards on Indian Act Reserves are governed by Federal laws and policies. Federal policies, acts and regulations also govern yards on other Federal lands.

Automotive recyclers need to recognize that the majority of the fluids that they use in their day-to-day operation or remove from end-of-life vehicles during the dismantling process are hazardous and require appropriate management.

Appropriate management of hazardous substances includes the safe storage, handling and transportation of under normal and emergency conditions. Failure to manage hazardous materials appropriately will result in the contamination of the soil, air and water. In most circumstances, automotive recyclers will be financially liable for their activities and in extreme cases could face Federal charges under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act; Canadian Environmental Protection Act and its regulations or the Fisheries Act.

See the acts and regulations for more details and to better understand the consequences of inappropriate automotive recycling.