U.S. companies are sending increasing amounts of hazardous waste to Ontario, Canada, to circumvent strong and costly disposal rules in the U.S., says a Canadian enviro group. The Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy this week called on Environment Minister David Anderson to review Ontario’s hazardous waste regulations, and, if he found them insufficient, to stop granting import permits. After the U.S. strengthened its regulations in the early 1990s, hazwaste imports into Ontario rose more than 500 percent in five years. In a separate action last month, the Canadian Environmental Industry Association warned Anderson that U.S. companies are moving waste containing carcinogens to Canada, where it can be dumped into landfills untreated.
