The 9^th Annual Excess Soils Symposium was a sold-out success thanks to our engaged and enthusiastic community of dirt nerds—a diverse variety of industry leaders, environmental experts, and government representatives. More than 350 people came together on September 25, 2025 at the Toronto Region Board of Trade Conference Centre to discuss the latest regulations, developments, and innovations pertaining to the management of excess soils in construction and cleanup projects across Canada.

The symposium program is carefully curated to help keep attendees informed and in compliance, and to share insights and best practices to help maximize resource recovery. The event also acts as an opportunity to facilitate new connections, so that the community can contribute, collaborate, inform and inspire each other. This year, the event sold out one month in advance and had a long waitlist. There are clearly a growing number of stakeholders in this province and beyond that care deeply about the management of soil—a precious and non-renewable natural resource—that requires conservation and protection.

“We’re all feeling the need to connect and be in the know as we face political tensions and an unprecedented battle for natural resources,” said Connie Vitello, Editor of Environment Journal, an organizer of ESS. “So, it has been especially great to collaborate with so many of you to prepare for our best symposium line-up yet. It’s an exciting time in the industry, with new nation-building projects on the horizon—and I know this crowd is ready to move mountains.”

She also announced that the Excess Soils Symposium series is launching a Western Canadian edition. ESS Calgary will be held on June 11, 2026. This event, which is supported by the Environmental Services Association of Alberta, will focus on the unique geographies, policies and issues facing practitioners in Western Canada. A call for abstract submissions is currently underway.

Lessons learned around the world

Entrepreneur and environmental advocate Jeff Goldman, Principal of SoilFLO, kicked off the day with an insightful discussion of lessons learned from around the world when it comes to the management of excess soils. In his dynamic and engaging way, Goldman challenged attendees to achieve heightened performance in their everyday operations.

Lesson 1: The displacement of soil is one of the most profound and ubiquitous activities in almost any construction project of consequence, yet it remains mostly unappreciated, poorly understood, and poorly regarded as to its economic and environmental consequences.

Lesson 2: Economic and environmental sustainability in construction starts with due regard for the soil.

Lesson 3: The most significant initial driver of change in excess soil management practices is from regulations that are implemented in response to adverse environmental outcomes. At times, industry innovations in response to regulatory requirements have improved outcomes and have outpaced regulations, thus rendering them as impediments to further improvement.

Lesson 4: The basic practices of dig, dump, and relocate are the mainstays of excess soil management worldwide although some of the equipment looks different than that to which we are accustomed

Lesson 5: World leading jurisdictions with advanced soil management practices include many countries in the European Union, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, certain provinces in Canada, and some states in the U.S.

Lesson 6: Epiphany moments that transform practice in excess soil management occur when the shift from viewing the soil as waste to resource occur and/or when industry realizes how much money it’s losing from outdated practices.

Lesson 7: Regulations mostly tend to place liabilities on receivers and haulers instead of generators.

Lesson 8: Leading edge regulatory initiatives incorporate the use of digital tools to track soil movements and go beyond beneficial reuse. They broaden the scope to include such considerations as soil mapping, carbon emissions from soil disruption and measurement of carbon emissions in soil transportation.

Lesson 9: Despite its outsized environmental impact, the benefits of positive excess soil management practices remain outside the scope of many mainstream organizations that promote sustainability, circular economy initiatives, and investment in sustainable technology.

RCA: If not now, then when?

Reducing carbon emissions and lowering project costs have been big challenges in the industry. With this in mind, Patrick McManus, Executive Director for the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association (OSWCA), presented some circular solutions in his informative and inspiring keynote presentation. He provided a compelling talk on how the increased use of Recycled Crushed Aggregates (RCA) in linear infrastructure projects offers a proven, high-impact strategy to reduce carbon emissions, lower project costs, and extend the life of non-renewable resources—all without compromising performance.

“Building major infrastructure projects, something a lot of people in this room know about, is messy at the best of times,” said McManus, who described how the projects are transformative for communities but can also be disruptive to people and to the natural environment.

McManus says change is on the horizon. He pointed to trends evident in net zero target carbon buildings, carbon scoring, and an increasing momentum in finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “We’re all becoming acutely aware of this impact that we’re having. But it’s not simply a decision about wanting to find ways to design and build cleaner. There’s always another side to the coin; building cleaner is important, but so is cost.”

McManus emphasized how RCA minimizes construction waste and project costs, preserves our non-renewable resources, reduces truck traffic and traffic congestion on our roads, and it significantly reduces carbon emissions on our projects. He explained that while it has been widely used in major infrastructure projects for years, especially on our 400 series highways, it has not yet been widely used in municipal infrastructure.

“The Association of Municipalities of Ontario is estimating that we need to invest a quarter of a trillion dollars to build, construct and rehabilitate municipal infrastructure to account for this exploding growth in our province, and we have to do this in the face of rising construction costs, especially as we’re depleting these close to market resources for our aggregates and so as roads are being built and replaced, and bridges are being maintained, and other critical infrastructure is replaced or expanded upon. Tens of millions of tons of asphalt and concrete are removed from these sites, and if they’re not recycled and reused, they end up in the dump,” said McManus. He added that Ontario has about eight years until all landfills in the province are full, according to inventory data from Waste to Resource Ontario.

McManus was clear with his call to action: “We need to change. Change how we build, change how we design. RCA is a sustainable product that offers amazing environmental benefits at a low cost.”

He referenced extensive testing in Ontario and internationally that has shown that RCA is a high performance material, and it is it can be used in an increasing number of applications, with numerous studies concluding that its geotechnical properties are equal to and sometimes superior to virgin aggregate.

“If municipalities in Ontario adopted an RCA usage of 20 per cent it would avoid extracting up to 15 million tons of new aggregate per year across the province,” he explained. “This would result in an annual cost savings of over $100 million in greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to taking seven million gas powered cars off the road.”

Policy and enforcement to support resource recovery

The Honourable Todd McCarthy, Ontario’s Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks and Member of Provincial Parliament for Durham took to the stage to share his views on provincial resource management. The Minister, who practiced law for decades before his election in 2022, emphasized the importance of enforcing soil regulations and punishing bad actors.

“It is an honour to be with you today to talk about this important subject matter of excess soils here at the Excess Soils Symposium,” said the Minister. “I thank Environment Journal for holding this annual event, as it brings together industry leaders to discuss issues and best practices for your industry.”

“We are working together with you to help us achieve our agenda in light of the recent global economic uncertainty, including us tariffs and threats to our economic sovereignty. Our government is working to protect our workers, our businesses and our communities throughout the province. We must unleash our economy, helping our businesses to become more competitive, and getting shovels in the ground for necessary projects all over the province.

He pointed to the province’s 10-year plan for infrastructure. “This is a plan that is worth more than $200 billion it is indeed the most ambitious capital plan in Ontario’s History, and it’s necessary to accommodate the 6 million more people who will be added to our provincial population over the next quarter century.”

The plan includes building the largest public transit expansion in North America and helping municipalities meet their heart their housing targets. “That’s a lot of new construction, and it means a lot of excess soils. And so our government wants to ensure that these excess soils are properly reused as much as possible, and that they don’t end up in landfills.”

The Minister discussed Ontario’s excess soil regulation, referring to its various phases and amendments to accommodate low-risk sites and remove maximum soil storage pile size limits for greater flexibility, as well as enhance usability of interim storage sites and increase opportunities for reuse of salt impacted soil in lower risk circumstances.

McCarthy announced the ministry is now moving toward finalizing further proposed amendments including:

reducing regulatory burdens to help accelerate the development of housing, highways and other critical infrastructure
enabling greater use of excess soil, including excess soil that can be reused as aggregate and reused between infrastructure projects
providing added flexibility in soil management options and reduce costs for businesses and municipalities, including for sampling of stormwater pond sediment
moving forward with proposed amendments to the Records of Site Condition (RSC) regulation, including expanding an exemption for the need to file for converting a commercial or community use building, such as an office tower.

The Minister also emphasized the matter of enforcement. “We know that the vast majority of the members of your industry are disposing of excess soil properly and protecting our environment in the process, but we also know that some illegal dumping of excess soil is an ongoing concern in some of our communities across the province,” he said.

“There are some few bad actors who are having a negative effect on the industry’s image and the consistent implementation of this regulation. So, we want you to know that our government takes enforcement very seriously. We have several ongoing prosecutions and have secured a number of successful convictions this year, but we primarily wish to work with industry. Our ministry continues to actively work with our external partners like you, as well as working with law enforcement agencies to curb illegal dumping. And we welcome your further suggestions on how we can work together to combat this problem productively.”

The Minister took the time to address a couple of questions and even provided his direct number to attendees.

Robust symposium program: informative, with a fun factor

This year, the symposium featured its most robust program yet. The format was also a little snappier to accommodate more of the community on stage. Panels and technical sessions explored a variety of timely topics, including:

Soil Reuse and Site Liability: New Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Guidelines on Reuse
Carrots & Sticks: Enforcement of O. Reg. 406/19: A Legal and Qualified Person Perspective
Multi-Stakeholder Strategies: The Challenges of Reuse Sites and the Opportunities of Earthworks Projects
Exclusive Stories from the Frontlines: Reuse Sites and Trends in the Industry
Buyer Beware: Importance of Assessing Excess Soil Risks During Property Transactions with CSA Standards
Reuse Revolution: How the Region of Peel Revolutionized Soils Management by Converting a Closed Landfill to a Clean Soil Reuse Site
Remarkable Resource Recovery: The Role of Soil Washing in Sustainable Urban Development with Calgary Aggregates
Big Ideas: How the Regulation has Impacted Best Practices for Contractors of Large Projects
Digital Soil Tracking Solutions: Small Projects to the Port Lands Project
Beyond the AI Buzz: Best Practices for Digital Tools
One Size Fits All? Rethinking Risk Assessments
Best Practices Across the Country: Comparative Analysis of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.
Annual Rant: How Clean is Clean? Examining ESQS with Case Studies from the Capital

Attendees will have access to all presentation slides and articles shared on the Whova app.

The highly anticipated “Best Practices Across-the-Country” panel. Moderator Meggen Janes of Geosyntec Consultants and panelists provided a comparative analysis of excess soil regimes. Joining her from left to right were Steve Boyce of Active Earth, Bahman Bani of Jacobs, and Véronique Daillaire of Ville de Montréal. The discussion compares regulatory frameworks in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, spotlighting best practices, cost differences, challenges, and innovative solutions shaping the future of sustainable soil management across Canada.

A highlight of the symposium was the special “Celebrity ESS Jeopardy!” panel at halftime. The intersection of excess soils and entertainment featured a fun, informative and engaging panel session that touched on a series of topics relating to excess soil, including humorous categories, “Daily Doubles” and wildly inaccurate “hot takes'” which emphasizes how confusing it can be to interpret some of the excess soil concepts. From left to right: Neil Isenegger of MENARD Canada Inc., Sophia Sestito of Ledcor; Matt Gardner (with the stage name of Turd Ferguson) of Wills & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP; and, Ryan Moniz of XS Soil Solutions as moderator.

Thank you to the ESS Sponsors: SoilFLO Inc., United Soils Management, ESdat Environmental Data Management Software, WSP in Canada, Roni Group, Di-Corp, Montrose Environmental Group, Amrize, MENARD Canada Inc., Datanest, YORK1, GeoSolv Design+Build, Terrapex, Stantec, Thurber Engineering Ltd., ERIS, Watermark Environmental Ltd., Greenspace Group, Trace Associates Inc., Engtec Consulting Inc., GFL Environmental Inc., TUQ4 Inc., EcoVac, Essential Soils Solutions, The Phil App, and The Ontario Sewer And Watermain Construction Association (OSWCA).

Join us in June for the Calgary edition of the Excess Soils Symposium—abstracts are due and early bird tickets end on November 28, 2025. To submit an abstract, click here.

For a link to further information and event photos from the Excess Soils Symposium, click here.

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