The Corporation of the Town of Newmarket (Applicant) v. Halton Recycling Limited (Respondent) Pays/Territoire Canada Type de cour Nationale - cour supérieure Date Oct 3, 2006 Source UNEP, InforMEA Nom du tribunal Ontario Superior Court of Justice Juge Bryant, A. Numéro de référence 77668/05 Langue Anglais Sujet Déchets et substances dangereuses Mot clé Gestion des déchets Déchets organiques Résumé Halton Recycling Limited operated an organic waste processing facility in the Town of Newmarket. The storage and processing of the organic wastes produced odors. Section 433 of the Municipal Act authorized a Municipality to apply to the Superior Court of Justice for an order requiring that all or part of premises within the Municipality be closed for any use for a period not exceeding two years because the activities on the premises constituted a public nuisance that had a detrimental impact on the use and enjoyment of property in the vicinity of the premises. The Town sought an order closing Halton’s facility for a period of two years pursuant to Section 433 of the Municipal Act 2001. It had received 1069 complaints from area businesses and residents about odors over a two year period. Halton opposed the submission and argued that it had taken appropriate steps to eliminate the odor and that there were other sources of odor that were erroneously attributed to Halton. The court examined the statutory preconditions, the difficulty in lessening or avoiding the risk, the utility of the activity, the general practice of others and the character of the neighborhood. It also analyzed the purpose and wording of the Municipal Act 2001. Besides that it considered the factors that determined whether or not a particular activity constituted a public nuisance. It found that the effect of the odor emissions was widespread within Halton’s sphere of influence and sphere of activity. The emissions had been and continued to be and attack upon the rights of the public generally to live their lives unaffected by inconvenience and discomfort. The emissions emanating were neither minimal nor infrequent. On a balance of probabilities the emissions caused an unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of property and in the workplace for those individuals who live and worked around the Halton facility. Thus, they caused a public nuisance for the purposes of Section 433 of the Municipal Act. Finally, the court addressed the question whether it should exercise its discretion not to grant the injunctive relief even though its criteria had been satisfied. It found that it was in the public interest that organic waste be processed into compost. There was evidence though that other facilities were capable to process organic waste if the Halton facility was be closed. It held that the facility would be closed and Halton was given a period of ninety days to take appropriate measures in order to abate the public nuisance. Texte intégral Newmarket Justice Bryant Public Nuisance Decision September 29 2006.pdf