If dealing with excess soils and meeting excess soil regulations is part of your job, we believe Mud Terminator and this article may be just what you need. Read on, and be sure to request a free Mud Terminator sample to see how effectively it works.
Excess soil regulations took effect in 2021
In recent years, municipal and provincial governments across Canada have been adjusting regulations pertaining to excess soils. This shift in thinking may have been partially spurred by the need to review landfill site management practices. More importantly, it is a recognition that soil is an important resource that supports plant growth, filters and stores water, provides habitat for organisms, and more.
Ontario was among the first provincial governments in Canada to amend their excess soils regulations in December 2019 with the introduction of Ontario Regulation 406/19. Also known as the “On-site and excess soil management” regulations these revisions took effect January 1, 2021. Let’s take a brief look at the new Ontario regulations and discuss how Di-Corp’s Earth Pro Mud Terminator soil reagent can help companies achieve compliance.
According to Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), these changes were implemented to do a number of things including:
- Recognize soil as a valuable commodity.
- Reduce the amount of clean excess soil going to landfill.
- Set clear, identifiable regulations around the reuse of soil.
Ontario’s waste designation has also been updated. Now to be beneficially reused, excess soil must meet the following criteria:
- Soil must be beneficially reused; cannot be stockpiled.
- Soil must be dry; cannot be a liquid slurry.
- The reuse site must agree in writing to accept the soil.
- Soil must be beneficially reused within two years of being accepted at the reuse site.
- Infrastructure development projects can use as much time as necessary to complete projects.
Ontario’s new legislation also introduced new risk-based standards for excess soil quantities greater than 350m3, while for quantities less than 350m3 the old regulations that fall under Ontario Regulation 153/04 still exist. The new risk-based standards are stricter for more compounds, particularly organic compounds, such as hydrocarbons. Ontario’s new regulations also name specific sites that will have standards for soil quality, such as farms and agricultural applications. Salt-impacted soils will have their own set of regulations. In essence, what this means is that soil quality must at a minimum meet the new excess soil standards, and additional site-specific standards may be developed by a qualified person for the reuse site.
How Earth Pro Mud Terminator can help.
Where Earth Pro Mud Terminator really shines is in any situation that involves liquid/soil slurries – including horizontal directional drilling and microtunnelling, large-scale tunnel boring machine/mole projects, oil & gas drilling, hydro excavation, environmental or wastewater sludge, and storm drainage collection ponds. Whether you’re dealing with clean or contaminated slurries, Mud Terminator can solidify them in minutes, turning them into a dry, stackable solid soils that are landfill friendly and pass all toxicity and paint filter criteria.
Mud Terminator is far superior to conventional solidification methods such as adding vast amounts of sawdust, fly ash from coal generation, or lime dust. First, it takes far less Mud Terminator to treat a liquid until it meets solids criteria for transportation to landfill. While Mud Terminator typically adds only about a one percent bulking factor, other methods can increase waste soil volume by 20 to 100 percent. Using Mud Terminator means far fewer trucks, less loading time, lower emissions, and overall fewer resources to manage and dispose of excess soils. As such, it provides both economic and environmental benefits.
But the environmental benefits don’t stop there. Mud Terminator’s powdered formulation of absorbent materials helps meet environmental solids criteria and stabilizes metals and hydrocarbons. It has been proven very effective in solidifying and absorbing drill cuttings, drilling mud, industrial sludge, contaminated soils, latex paint, non-hazardous liquid waste, remediation sediments, and much more. After treatment with Mud Terminator the resultant mixture will pass paint filter and slump tests. Treated spoils can also meet solids and excess soil regulations and can safely go to landfill directly from the generator site or after water treatment at a transfer station.
For more on Mud Terminator, download our product info sheet, or request a free sample to test it for yourself.
