Environmental groups file complaint against hazardous waste company Stablex in Blainville

Environmental groups filed a complaint Wednesday morning against the hazardous waste treatment company Stablex regarding “three serious findings related to the plant’s activities” and denounced the Ministry of the Environment’s disengagement.

Atmospheric Emissions

The complaint filed by the groups refers in particular to the testimonies, on condition of anonymity, of former plant workers during the Radio-Canada program “Enquête,” broadcast on Oct. 9. In this episode, former workers report that they witnessed “polluted air emissions, clouds of dust, deposits on vehicles, and arsenic and mercury contamination,” according to the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.

“These alarming findings raise concerns about atmospheric emissions that could violate the Clean Air Regulations,” the groups write.

Liquid Spill

The second finding reported in the complaint refers to a truck that allegedly “spilled hundreds of liters of contaminated liquid onto public roads” on Aug. 21, 2025.

According to the complainants, the spill reached the stormwater system leading to Locke Head Creek.

Analysis conducted by the Société pour vaincre la pollution, which is one of the groups that filed the complaint, “revealed heavy metals, carcinogenic PAHs, hydrocarbons, and phenols at concentrations exceeding CMM standards.”

The groups are requesting that the Ministry of the Environment conduct an audit “to confirm whether the company’s regulatory post-spill reporting was properly completed.”

Standards Exceeded Around Stablex

According to analyses by the Society to Defeat Pollution (SVP), pollutant concentrations around Stablex exceed air quality standards and “justify health monitoring and the installation of continuous monitoring stations.”

According to environmental groups, “the Ministry should revise the operating permit to include strict capture measures and assess the cumulative impacts on environmental and human health, both in terms of air and water.”

In a statement released Wednesday morning, Daniel Green, an ecotoxicology specialist and representative of the Society to Defeat Pollution, wrote that “the signs of contamination are mounting while the authorities’ inaction persists.”

According to him, “it is high time for the Ministry of the Environment to fully assume its responsibilities and implement monitoring of Stablex’s activities that is continuous, rigorous, random, and completely independent of the company in order to fully ensure the safety of the public and the environment.”

The plaintiffs report “a flagrant lack of rigour” and “a disturbing lack of accountability on the part of the State” in the Stablex case.

The Enquête report reveals that “the Ministry of the Environment has relied entirely on the data provided by Stablex rather than conducting its own independent environmental monitoring, and has done so for many years,” the groups argue in the press release.

The Society to Defeat Pollution, Eau Secours, the Regional Environmental Action Movement, Mothers at the Front Basses-Laurentides, the Rivière-du-Nord Landfill Alert Coalition, and the Blainville Citizens’ Coalition Against Stablex Cell #6 are the groups that filed a complaint against Stablex on Wednesday.

The Stablex industrial waste treatment center currently includes a treatment plant and five landfill cells, and the company plans to build a sixth cell.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews