If your project will dig up and move soil in 2027, one date belongs in your schedule: January 1, 2027. From that day, Ontario generally won’t allow excess soil that meets its cleanest quality standards to be sent to landfill. That soil will need to go somewhere it can be reused instead. 

For many developers and contractors, landfill has been the simple, predictable option for clean fill. That option is closing. The good news is that the change is easy to manage if you plan for it early. Here’s what’s changing, what the exceptions are, and how to get your project ready. 

What’s changing 

Ontario’s Excess Soil Regulation (O. Reg. 406/19) treats excess soil as a resource to be reused wherever possible, rather than a waste. One of its last pieces to take effect is a restriction on landfilling clean soil. It was originally scheduled for 2025, then postponed, and was confirmed in amendments made in 2025 (O. Reg. 235/25) to start on January 1, 2027. 

In plain terms: 

• What it covers: excess soil that meets the most stringent excess soil quality standards. These are the Table 2.1 standards, the level of quality suitable for residential, parkland and institutional use. In everyday language, “clean” soil. 

• What it means: that soil generally can’t be deposited at a landfill or dump. It should go to a reuse site, a soil bank or another approved destination where it can be put to beneficial use. 

• Who it affects: project leaders and owners deciding where soil goes, and the landfill operators receiving it. 

The exceptions 

The restriction isn’t absolute. Clean soil can still end up at a landfill in a few situations: 

• The landfill uses it for its own operations. Soil used as daily or final cover, or to build roads and berms at the landfill, isn’t caught by the restriction. 

• A Qualified Person declares it isn’t suitable for reuse. A Qualified Person (a Professional Engineer or Professional Geoscientist) can document that the soil: 

• contains a substance with no applicable standard, where reuse could cause an adverse effect; 

• contains invasive species that make it unsuitable to move elsewhere; or 

• isn’t suitable as structural fill, and no reuse site could be found after reasonable efforts. 

That declaration has to be in writing and kept on file, so it isn’t a shortcut. It needs real evidence, such as sampling results or a record of the reuse options you looked at. 

The restriction is about clean soil. Soil that doesn’t meet the Table 2.1 standards still has to be managed properly, but it isn’t affected by this change. 

What it means for your project 

The biggest impact is on timing. Finding a reuse site takes longer than booking a landfill. Reuse sites set their own acceptance conditions. They may only take certain soil types or volumes, and they usually want test results before a single truck arrives. 

That makes a few things more important than before: 

• Knowing your soil quality early. You can’t send soil to the right place until you know which standards it meets. Sampling during design, rather than during excavation, keeps trucks moving. 

• Lining up destinations before you dig. If reuse planning applies to your project, the destination assessment and Registry filing must be in place before soil leaves the site anyway. The landfill restriction makes that step harder to skip. 

• Budgeting realistically. Hauling distance, reuse site fees and stockpiling time can all change your soil costs. Knowing them early avoids surprises in the middle of construction. 

Projects that start excavation in early 2027 are the most exposed. If your project is in design or permitting now, this is the time to plan. 

Five steps to get ready 

1. Check whether reuse planning applies. It generally does if the site had a higher-risk past use (like a gas station or industrial use), if you’re removing 2,000 m³ or more from a site in a settlement area, or if the work is remediation. Some projects are exempt. 
2. Characterize your soil early. An assessment of past uses and a sampling plan tell you what you’re dealing with before excavation, not during it. 
3. Find your destinations. Identify reuse sites or soil banks that will accept your soil’s quality and volume, and confirm their requirements in writing. 
4. Build it into the schedule and budget. Allow time for sampling, lab results and destination approvals, and price in hauling and receiving fees. 
5. Keep your records in order. Registry notices, hauling records and any Qualified Person declarations need to be complete and kept on file in case a Ministry inspector asks to see them. 

How Peritus can help 

Peritus Environmental helps developers, builders and contractors across southern Ontario manage excess soil from planning to the last load. Our Qualified Persons prepare assessments of past uses and sampling plans, characterize soil in place or in stockpiles, find suitable reuse destinations, and handle Registry filings and tracking. 

On a recent large residential development in Markham, the plans included an underground parking garage, which meant a lot of soil had to come out. Before excavation started, we sampled and characterized two large existing stockpiles, then characterized a further 115,000 m³ of soil still in place. Our soil characterization report gave the project team a clear picture of soil quality up front, so destinations could be planned early instead of during excavation.