Toronto’s ChemTRAC and the

Environmental Reporting and

Disclosure Bylaw

Presentation to the

CEC’s NAPRTR Meeting

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

October 30, 2012

Marco A. Belmont, PhD

Toronto Public Health

mbelmon@toronto.ca

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Welcome to Toronto!

• Toronto is Canada’s largest city

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Some facts about Toronto

• 5th largest city in North America

• Home to a diverse population of about 2.6 million people.

Source: www.cec.org

“Toronno”

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Some facts about Toronto

Source: www.cec.org

Important

Industrial Activity

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Some facts about Toronto

• Toronto is the economic engine of Canada, and

• one of the greenest and most creative cities in North America.

For the first time ever in Canada….

• A municipality collects information about toxic chemicals from small and medium-size businesses through a bylaw

• Environmental Reporting and Disclosure bylaw

Because …

• There are many small and medium-size businesses that use and release toxic chemicals in Toronto but do not report this information to anybody

• Many small contribution of pollutants may be as important as few large contributions

and …

• It is well known that these pollutants are harmful to human health

We needed to know …

• We need to know the health impacts of these pollutants

• The public demanded the ‘Right to Know’

… to help drive change.

• Disclose information• Change in industrial

practices• Promote Pollution

Prevention

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Voila! … Toronto’s ChemTRAC

and the

Environmental Reporting and Disclosure Bylaw

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Goal:

•To protect health through reduced exposure to toxic substances, particularly in the air

Objectives:

•Increase awareness by facilities of their use & release of priority substances of health concern

•Collect information about hazardous substances used and released in the community and provide

public access to it

•Stimulate pollution prevention, such as through chemical substitution and improved processes

•Support “greening” and growth of local businesses

ChemTRAC Goal and Objectives

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Key Program Components

• Mandatory reporting– Bylaw that requires annual reporting of 25 priority substances– Guidance documents, calculation tools, technical support– Convenient web-based reporting system

https://secure.toronto.ca/ChemTRAC/welcome.do

• Public disclosure of data– Website access to facility-specific data

http://app.toronto.ca/ctpd/findFacility.html

• Pollution prevention program– Sector-specific guides, technical assistance, workshops

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•Requires reporting on 25 substances (or group of substances) of priority

concern to health

•Requires facilities that use or release one or more of the priority

substances to report:

•on-site releases to air, water & land

•‘use’ as manufactured, processed or otherwise used

Environmental Reporting & Disclosure Bylaw – Municipal Code 423

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Acetaldehyde Formaldehyde

Acrolein Lead

Benzene Particulate Matter < 2.5 um (PM2.5)

1,3-butadiene Manganese

Cadmium Mercury

Carbon tetrachloride Nickel

Chloroform Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)

Chromium (hexavalent) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Chromium (non-hexavalent) Tetrachloroethylene

1,4-dichlorobenzene Trichloroethylene

1,2-dichloroethane Vinyl Chloride

Dichloromethane Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Ethylene dibromide

25 Priority Substances

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•Reporting threshold set at about 1% of current NPRI threshold to capture

data from small & medium sized facilities which do not report

•Some reporting exemptions, similar to NPRI

Environmental Reporting & Disclosure Bylaw – Municipal Code 423

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Mass Reporting and de minimis Concentration ThresholdsChemical Name CAS No.

Mass Reporting Threshold

de minimis concentration

kg/yr % w/w GROUP A

Acetaldehyde 75-07-0 100 1.0 Acrolein 107-02-8 100 1.0 Benzene 71-43-2 100 1.0

1,3-Butadiene 106-99-0 100 1.0 Carbon tetrachloride 56-23-5 100 1.0 Chloroform (Trichloromethane) 67-66-3 100 1.0

Chromium, Non-hexavalent1 - 100 1.0

1,2-Dibromo ethane (Ethylene dibromide) 106-93-4 100 1.0

1,4-Dichlorobenzene 106-46-7 100 1.0 1,2-Dichloroethane (Ethylene dichloride) 107-06-2 100 1.0 Dichloromethane (Methylene chloride) 75-09-2 100 1.0 Formaldehyde 50-00-0 100 1.0 Manganese1 7439-96-5 10 1.0

Nickel1 7440-02-0 100 1.0

Tetrachloroethylene (Perchloroethylene) 127-18-4 100 1.0

Trichloroethylene 079-01-6 100 1.0

Vinyl chloride 75-01-4 100 1.0

Cadmium1 7440-43-9 1.0 0.1

Chromium, Hexavalent1 7440-47-3 10 0.1

Lead1 7439-92-1 10 0.1 Mercury1 7439-97-6 1.0 0.0

GROUP B Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) - 103 n/a4

GROUP C NOx

2 - 200 n/a PM2.5 - 30 n/a VOCs total - 100 n/a

At first, businesses didn’t like the idea

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•Consultation with industries on program

implementation

•Resources for training and education

•Estimating usage and releases

•Reporting

•Pollution Prevention

•Opportunities for economic incentives

•Grants

•Awards

Minimizing Burden on Industry

Now, ChemTRAC is collecting new data on toxic substances!

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Filling information Gaps in Toronto

Point source releases:

• Most small- and medium-size facilities are not required to report

• Majority of releases are to air for all industrial sectors except water/waste management, which discharges to water

• About 85% of Toronto releases to air not reported to NPRI

• Chronic exposure to mixture of toxic substances from many sources is of health concern

New information collected …

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• Of the 538 facilities that reported to ChemTRAC in 2011, only 82 facilities (15%) also reported to the

federal government NPRI

15%

85%

NPRI Non-NPRI

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Public Disclosure of Data

• Provide web-based public access to facility-specific data

• Create annual reports

Disclosure of Data

Disclosure of Data

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Reporting and Disclosure:

•Requires facilities to take the first step toward pollution prevention – tracking what is used and

emitted.

•Promotes community engagement – facilities and residents have better information about

hazardous chemicals.

Success of similar programs:

•Increase review of processes for environmental, health and safety impacts

•Reduce reported emissions

Stimulating Pollution Prevention

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Supports for facilities: Pollution Prevention

• Pollution Prevention guidance– Sector-specific guides

to pollution prevention– Technical assistance

and outreach

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Benefits of Access to Environmental Information

• Reporting environmental data and making information accessible benefits the public, workers, businesses and the City by:– Stimulating innovation and pollution

prevention– Reducing exposure to toxic substances– Improving understanding of health and

environmental risks

Know more about ChemTRAC

www.toronto.ca/chemtrac

Contact Information

Acknowledgements

The ChemTRAC Team:• Carol Mee, Healthy Public Policy• Dylan Dampier, Healthy Public Policy• Julie Sommerfreund, Healthy Public Policy• Rich Whate, Healthy Public Policy• Yusuf Alam, Healthy Public Policy• Marianne Kingsley, Healthy Public Policy• Ronald Macfarlane, Healthy Public Policy• Zia Islam, Healthy Public Policy• Deanna Mendolia

• TPH’s Legal, Web Services, Communications, and IT• Toronto Env Office, Toronto Water, Economic Developmnt & Culture

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Questions?

Thank You!

Marco A. Belmont, PhD. Environmental Health

RC

Healthy Public Policy

Toronto Public Health

277 Victoria St. 7th

Floor.

Toronto M5B 1W2

mbelmon@toronto.ca

416.338.6267