A Barrie, Ont. court fined HK United Trucks $50,000 for its role in the illegal dumping of construction and demolition waste from a Vaughan, Ont. redevelopment site onto private property in Springwater Township.
The company was convicted on April 30, 2024, following a trial and sentenced on July 30, 2025, according to a news release. In addition to the $50,000 fine, HK United Trucks was ordered to pay a $12,500 victim fine surcharge and given one year to pay.
The trucking company was found guilty of depositing, causing, permitting or arranging for the deposit of waste onto land that was not an authorized waste disposal site, and of operating or extending an unauthorized waste management system.
The investigation also led to convictions against Antonio Gentile and soil broker Paul Hitchin. Gentile, the sole officer and director of 1668135 Ontario Inc., pleaded guilty on Sept. 26, 2023, to two counts of causing or arranging the deposit of waste on unauthorized land. He was fined $15,000 on each count, plus a $7,500 victim fine surcharge, and given one year to pay.
Hitchin was convicted of one count under the Environmental Protection Act and fined $15,000, plus a $3,750 surcharge, with 15 days to pay.
The offences occurred between Oct. 30 and Nov. 6, 2020. Gentile arranged for material excavated from a Langstaff Road property in Vaughan, previously used as an unauthorized landfill, to be hauled by HK United Trucks to a Sunnidale Road property near Barrie. Although described as clean fill, the loads were found to contain construction and demolition waste mixed with soil.
The Sunnidale Road site was not authorized for waste disposal, and HK United Trucks was neither approved nor registered to transport construction and demolition waste.
Before the offences, Gentile had attempted to remove larger debris for disposal at an authorized landfill, but most of the material sent to Springwater consisted of construction and demolition waste mixed with soil.
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks’ Environmental Investigations and Enforcement Branch conducted the investigation, resulting in the convictions under Ontario’s Environmental Protection Act.
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