The ChemTRAC program is temporarily suspended, effective May 18, 2020 and will not be able to accept annual reports or provide support to facilities.
Municipal Code Chapter 423, Environmental Reporting and Disclosure By-law,
requires that certain facilities that exceed the specified thresholds, report
information each year about thel use and release of 25 "priority substances"
(as identified in the by-law
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_423.pdf). These priority
substances are found as contaminants in Toronto's environment (mostly air) and
are of concern for health.
The by-law came into effect on January 1, 2010 and the first deadline for
reporting of 2010 data was June 30, 2011.
This ChemTrac data set contains chemical tracking information submitted
directly online by staff from each facility and includes the facility type,
address, number of employees, contact information, use and release of priority
substances.
Some companies that are below the thresholds volunteered the chemical use
information, even though they are not legally obligated to disclose.
The purpose of disclosing the data is to inform the public of these facilities
and encourage businesses and the public to pursue environmental improvements
to reduce the use and release of these 25 "priority substances". The first
dataset to be disclosed through Open Data will cover the year 2010.