Organics

Mulch, brush, firewood, and topsoil

Mulch, brush, firewood, straw, topsoil, and compost have a home when a farm, a yard, or a job needs them. Tell us what you have, or what you are short of. We do not promise the load is free.

What the Ontario rules actually say

• Topsoil is defined

  O. Reg. 406/19 defines topsoil as the O and A horizons that contain organic material. If the horizons are no longer visible, it is topsoil only when it is solely a mixture of soil and organic material and has at least as much organic material as an undisturbed O and A horizon.

• A narrow planning exemption

  Schedule 2 says the section 8 reuse-planning rules do not apply in one topsoil case: the project area is caught by section 8 only for the reason in paragraph 2 of subsection 8 (1.1), the excavated soil is only topsoil, and it goes directly from the project area to a reuse site to be used as topsoil. Other topsoil can still be excess soil.

• Compost has its own standard

  Regulation 347, subsection 3 (2), paragraph 25, says processed organic waste from a composting facility is not subject to that waste designation when it meets Category AA or Category A in Part II of the Ontario Compost Quality Standards. Category B is a different case. Backyard and some on-farm composting sit outside those standards.

• Blending is capped

  The Rules for Soil Management say compost blended with excess soil is not to be the principal constituent, and they give the example of not more than 50 percent compost by volume. Deemed compliance with the excess soil standards is limited to leaf-and-yard compost from a site regulated by O. Reg. 101/94, or Category AA compost from a facility with an environmental compliance approval, and only in the circumstances that section spells out. The same rules say the federal Fertilizers Act applies to that blend.

• Mulch and straw

  Clean mulch and straw are not given their own reuse section in O. Reg. 406/19. If they are mixed into soil, the excess soil rules can apply to that soil. Call and we will say which rule we think fits before anyone loads a truck.

• Firewood can carry pests

  The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says invasive insects can hide in firewood, and that moving firewood outside a regulated area is prohibited. For Ontario it lists Dutch elm disease, emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid, and spongy moth. Firewood may move inside a regulated area, inside non-regulated areas if the trip does not pass through a regulated area, or out of a regulated area with a CFIA movement certificate for heat-treated firewood or under a compliance agreement. The same page says moving firewood from a place where a regulated pest has been found can violate the Plant Protection Act. Brush is not given that firewood rule on the page, so we do not invent one.

Sources

• O. Reg. 406/19, On-Site and Excess Soil Management
• Rules for Soil Management and Excess Soil Quality Standards (MECP, 14 November 2025)
• Ontario Compost Quality Standards
• R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 347, General — Waste Management
• O. Reg. 101/94, Recycling and Composting of Municipal Waste
• CFIA, Hazards of moving firewood

This is general information so you know what to ask about. It is not legal, engineering, or environmental advice. Whether a rule applies depends on the material, the site, and the volume. If this page and the official text differ, the official text wins.

Also see All materials · Why reuse