The National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) is Canada’s legislated, publicly accessible inventory designed to track and catalogue the release of pollutants, their disposal, or their transfer to recycling facilities. Every year on June 1^st, facilities nationwide are subject to compile information on the following pollutants: air contaminants, pollutants released in water, and waste products disposed on land. The NPRI oversees the usage of over 300 unique substances Canada-wide and over 7000 facilities were included in the registry last year alone.

Do you need to register?

Facilities in every province and territory across Canada are responsible for registering with the NPRI if they meet certain conditions, such as:

• If one (or more) designated NPRI substance is manufactured, processed, or otherwise used at the facility during the year.
• If the total working hours accumulated within the facility is greater than 20,000 hours. This is equivalent to approximately 10 full-time workers over the calendar year.

If a facility you own or manage meets these conditions, you must register in accordance with Federal Law. Additionally, facilities involved in incineration, wood preservation, terminal operations (among others) must adhere to NPRI reporting requirements regardless of employee hours worked.

If you have any doubts about whether or not your facility requires registration, contact a professional. Industry professionals have in-depth knowledge of the NPRI database and the over 300 substances that it encompasses.

Unsure if you require registration? Contact THEM to find out.

The Importance Of Filing The NPRI With a Professional

Environmental consulting professionals possess a vast knowledge of NPRI reporting requirements and can streamline the reporting process to ensure it is handled in a quick and orderly fashion. For instance, facilities may be required to report based on Concentration Threshold, Mass Threshold, Employee Threshold, and Activities/Sector. The reporting criteria are different for each section. Failure to meet the reporting requirements or reporting deadline may result in fines and penalties.

Environmental specialists follow a number of steps to ensure all issues are dealt with in a timely fashion. A brief overview of the steps taken include:

1. Determining the substances that a facility uses that may fall under the NPRI catalogue.
2. Verifying the total quantities of substances a facility manufactures, processes, or otherwise uses in a calendar year.
3. Establishes whether the use of these substances surpasses the NPRI reporting threshold.
4. Ensures the appropriate reporting procedure is followed for all substances over the threshold.

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About the Author – T. Harris Environmental Management