General Terms
Certificate of Approval (CofA): A control document issued by the Ministry of the Environment that contains specific terms and conditions for operating a landfill site to ensure the protection of human health and the environment, as per Section 27 of the Environmental Protection Act
Open landfill: A landfill that currently receives waste and operates under the terms and conditions of a Certificate of Approval
Closed landfill: A landfill that:
- closed prior to 1970 when the MOE was formed and therefore not issued a CofA;
- was issued a CofA and has since been closed and capped; or
- has not been capped but is no longer receiving waste (inactive)
Specific Terms
Site Approval Conditions
Total Site Area: Total approved area designated as a landfill site including buffers, footprint, access roads and other site infrastructure not including a Contaminant Attenuation Zone (CAZ)
Footprint: Actual area of a site designated to be filled with wastes
Total Approved Capacity: Total approved capacity for the site (in cubic metres); includes any amended expansions beyond the original approval
Fill Rate: Approved rate of waste accepted into the site, expressed on a daily operating basis or annual basis (usually in tonnes)
Contaminant Attenuation Zone (CAZ): As defined in O. Reg. 232, contaminant attenuation zone refers to a three-dimensional area that:
- (a) is located on land adjacent to a landfill site;
- (b) is in the subsurface or extends into the subsurface; and
- (c) is used or is intended to be used to reduce contaminants from the landfill site to levels that will have no adverse impact beyond the boundary of the zone
Service Area: Geographic areas of the province approved to ship wastes to the site as specified in the Certificate of Approval
Approved Waste Types: The Certificate of Approval specifies the types of waste the landfill is approved to receive
Has Financial Assurance: Funding available for corrective action and maintenance after the landfill is closed (This only applies to private facilities)
Engineered Features
Natural Attenuation: The process by which a compound (i.e., leachate) is reduced in concentration over time, through absorption, adsorption, degradation, dilution and/or transformation
Liners: An impermeable barrier of plastic and/or dense clay designed to keep leachate inside a landfill
Cover Material: Soil used to cover compacted solid waste in a sanitary landfill
Leachate Off-Site Treatment: Liquid that drains or 'leaches' from a landfill that is treated outside the landfill’s boundaries.
Leachate On-Site Treatment: Liquid that drains or 'leaches' from a landfill that is treated within the landfill’s boundaries
Landfill Gas Management (Passive): Gas byproducts i.e., methane and carbon dioxide are controlled or diverted via barriers and gas conduction systems that vent the gas through natural gas pressure from the landfill into the atmosphere.
Landfill Gas Management (Flaring): Landfill gas is 'flared' or thermally destroyed, usually in a specially-designed flaring facility.
Landfill Gas Management (Energy Generation): Landfill gas is converted to electricity, usually in a specially-designed landfill gas-to-energy facility. Methane gas is used as fuel in generators to produce energy in the form of steam, electricity and heat.
Monitoring and Reporting Requirements
Air Emission Monitoring: Required testing to ensure air emissions do not exceed provincial standards.
Groundwater Monitoring: Required testing of groundwater wells to determine whether waste materials have escaped from the landfill.
Surface Water Monitoring: Required testing to ensure leachate has not contaminated the surface water
Landfill Gas Monitoring: Gases released from landfills are electronically monitored
Most Recent Annually Reported Figures
Estimated Total Remaining Capacity: Remaining landfill capacity identified at end of a reporting period; air space in cubic metres including space calculated for waste material and daily cover. (This value does not include space for the final cover cap.)
Total Waste Received: Total reported tonnage of waste material landfilled during the reporting period.
