Environment Ministry seeks views on Hazardous Waste Amendments

The Ministry of Environment is continuing the process of reviewing and revising the Hazardous Waste Regulation (HWR) of the Environmental Management Act (EMA).  The HWR review processes follow the ministry policy of continuous improvement and commitment to our regulations on a regular basis and to update them as appropriate.

The ministry intends to revise the current regulation in two stages over the next several months. The first will address some housekeeping and other minor revisions (identified and discussed in the attached notification; see link below) and the second stage will incorporate more substantive and complex issues. The ministry will also post an intentions paper and response form to seek responses and comments from stakeholders and the public on these proposed substantive revisions.

The purpose of the attached intentions paper is to seek stakeholder comments and from the general public on these proposed housekeeping and other minor changes to the Hazardous Waste Regulation.

Additional information and links to related legislation are posted on the ministry’s website and can be accessed by clicking on the address below, or from the Ministry of Environment homepage, by following the Environmental Protection Division and Environmental Management Branch links.
See: www.env.gov.bc.ca/epdiv/env_mgt_act/index. NOTE: here
 
The Ministry advises that all information received will be treated with confidentiality by ministry staff and contractors. However, please note that information you provide and information that identifies you as a source of comments may be publicly available if a Freedom of Information request is made under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Comments on the Intentions Paper are to be submitted by Friday February 15, 2008

The ministry has contracted Cindy Bertram of C. Rankin & Associates to manage the information collection process.  If you have any questions regarding the information-gathering process, check the ministry website or contact Cindy Bertram at: Email: cindybertram@shaw.ca  Fax: 250 598-9948

BCEIA is working closely with the Ministry to develop a suite of educational products to raise the general level of compliance with the hazardous waste regulations. A new BCEIA Hazardous Waste Web Site will made public presently. If you have questions about Hazardous Wastes, do not hesitate to contact BCEIA c/o info@bceia.com. The intentions paper is available here.