Toxic substances management process: virtual elimination

For those toxic substances that are persistent and bioaccumulative, result primarily from human activity, and are not a naturally occurring radionuclide or a naturally occurring inorganic substance, section 77(4) of CEPA 1999 proposes virtual elimination of their release to the environment.

Substances slated for virtual elimination will generally follow the Toxics Management Process with the addition of the following steps:

• a Level of Quantification is developed for the substance. The Level of Quantification (LoQ) is the lowest concentration that can be accurately measured using sensitive but routine sampling and analytical methods.
• both the substance and its LoQ are added to the Virtual Elimination List.
• a regulation prescribing the quantity or concentration of the substance that may be released is developed.
• Virtual Elimination plans may be requested.