Centre FilloGreen ordered to pay $125,000 by Environment Ministry
Centre FilloGreen ordered to pay $125,000 by Environment Ministry
Update: This story has been updated to include a link to Centre FilloGreen’s response.
A local waste management company was recently ordered to pay $125,000 by the Quebec Ministry of Environment for infractions dating back to 2018.
In a press release issued Wednesday (June 4), the Ministry announced that on April 14 of this year, 9231-6082 Québec inc., known as Centre FilloGreen, was found guilty of violating Article 66 of the province’s environmental law. While the company is based in La Pêche, the infractions took place at their property in Litchfield.
“Between October 23 and November 23, 2018, in Litchfield, the company deposited or discharged, or permitted the deposit or discharge of, residual materials, including pieces of wood, plastic, cardboard, and green waste mixed with plastic and cardboard, in a place other than a place where their storage, treatment, or disposal is authorized by the Minister,” the statement notes.
The company was ordered to pay a fine of $100,000 as well as a contribution of $25,000.
CHIP 101.9 has reached out to Centre FilloGreen, and their response is available here.
“The contribution is regulated by the Code of Criminal Procedure and represents 25% of the fine,” ministry spokesperson Louis Potvin explained (translated). “It is paid into the Fund for Assistance to Victims of Criminal Offenses (FAVAC) and the Access to Justice Fund.”
Potvin added that these types of cases can take time, noting that though the infractions were from 2018, the ministry submitted their dossier to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions on October 21, 2021.
Centre FilloGreen currently has the contract for MRC Pontiac’s waste collection and transport. In the past, they purchased advertising in local media advocating for a landfill at their Litchfield property, where they operate a transfer site and a facility for recycling construction waste.
Previous infractions
This is not the first time that the company has received fines from the ministry. In late 2018, the company, then operating under the name Centre de tri Pontiac, was found guilty of four infractions for improper storage of construction waste dating back to 2013 and ordered to pay a fine of roughly $40,000. An order was also issued in 2019 by Environment Minister Benoît Charette to Centre de tri Pontiac to stop dumping and burying residual materials “in an unauthorized location and to proceed with the restoration of the site”, which the company disputed.
Potvin added that the previous infractions may have had an impact on the judge’s decision.
“Under section 53(9) of the Act respecting certain measures for the enforcement of environmental and dam safety laws, the fact that the offender has, in the past, committed acts contrary to laws and regulations aimed at the conservation or protection of human health or the environment allows the judge to consider this aggravating factor in sentencing.”
The provincial registry for environmental infraction convictions is available here.
