When Dean May鈥檚 team of cleaners entered the home, dressed head to toe in protective suits, thick green dust covered every surface.

鈥淲e literally left footprints when we were walking in the house,鈥� he recalled.

They were traipsing through the toxic remnants of an illicit fentanyl pill-pressing operation in northern British Columbia three or four years ago, and May says it was one of the worst scenes he鈥檚 been to.

For 14 years, May, who co-owns Calgary-based Mayken Hazmat Solutions, has been cleaning the mess left behind by drug labs in Western Canada after police are done with the scene.

As clandestine drug labs become larger and more complex, so does the toxic mess they leave behind and the tools required to clean them up, creating expensive and dangerous situations for both people and the environment.

In B.C., the RCMP say they鈥檝e spent millions over the last five years disposing of chemicals found in labs, but the rest of the hefty cleanup bill is often left to property owners who call private companies like May鈥檚.

B.C.鈥檚 real estate association says consistent provincewide rules are needed for how to remediate properties back to being livable.

May said hidden labs making synthetic drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamines using industrial chemicals are both more toxic than mouldy marijuana grow operations and quicker to set up, meaning it鈥檚 easier for rented properties to be turned into labs without property owners knowing.

鈥淪omebody can turn a home into a lab in a matter of days, whereas back in the grow-op days, it took quite a bit of time to set up the grow-op and wire it,鈥� he said.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Derek Westwick runs B.C.鈥檚 Clandestine Lab Enforcement and Response team, which investigates synthetic drug labs.

He grew up in the area of Langley, B.C., where a single-family home was turned into a large ecstasy lab 10 years ago.

He remembers the 鈥渃ook鈥� in that case was pouring chemicals through a pipe into the big backyard, allowing chemicals to seep into a ditch.

A neighbour complained in a letter to the local Langley Advance Times about 鈥渙pen toxic ditches and putrid brown sludge oozing鈥� around the home.

She wrote that her neighbour鈥檚 koi fish and trees had died, and that when it rains 鈥渢he smell comes and we are coughing.鈥�

The province stepped in when then-environment minister Mary Polak declared the location a 鈥渉igh-risk contaminated site鈥� a year after it was found and warned that the home itself as well as three neighbouring properties could be contaminated.

Experts would find soil and water containing chemicals that included dichloromethane, a colourless liquid used as a solvent in paint and furniture-stripping products, as well as other industrial applications.

The province footed a $930,000 bill for remediation, though the Ministry of Environment said in a statement that it got the money back when the property was later sold and torn down.

鈥楾HEY鈥橪L PENETRATE OUR SUITS QUITE FAST鈥�

Westwick said his team has come up against increasingly toxic chemicals in recent years, with the rise of fentanyl labs.

Under the wrong set of circumstances, ingredients can melt officers鈥� protective gear.

When the team first enters a property, they鈥檒l wear breathing apparatus similar to those worn by firefighters. Their chemical suits are attached to their boots and gloves with tape that is specially designed not to melt.

When investigators are unsure exactly what chemicals they鈥檙e dealing with, the team will layer up with a variety of gloves, each designed to protect from something different, he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not fentanyl itself, it鈥檚 (that) these chemicals have such different properties and hazards they quickly can permeate our chemical suits. Any one of them, they鈥檒l penetrate our suits quite fast,鈥� he said.

In his 15 years with the team, Westwick said it has become less common for criminals to leave their toxic ingredients in barrels for someone else to clean up.

Fear of being identified through the barrels means they are more likely to just dump it, he said.

鈥淪o now that鈥檚 worse, because now they pour it down the drains, pour it in a septic field, pour it out in the backyard,鈥� he said.

In 2017, provincial environmental officials had to excavate 30 cubic metres of contaminated soil from a former meth lab near Rock Creek, B.C., after liquid and solid waste was dumped near a drug lab.

Health authorities ordered residents of about 25 properties to stop using their water.

Earlier this year, Mounties dismantled a drug 鈥渟uperlab鈥� in Falkland, in B.C.鈥檚 southern Interior, calling it the largest, most sophisticated in Canada.

Police said they seized 鈥渕assive鈥� amounts of precursor chemicals used to make the drugs, adding that environmental mitigation and cleanup cost would be at least $500,000 and possibly 鈥渟ignificantly higher.鈥�

Westwick said that in the last five years, the RCMP had paid just shy of $2 million to remove chemicals from clandestine labs in British Columbia.

He said Mounties are only responsible for disposing of chemicals covered under search warrants, meaning homeowners are in charge of cleaning up whatever damage to the building or the environment is left behind.

鈥淚 do not clean up labs, they鈥檙e left half as messy. I take all the chemicals to render them safe. I鈥檒l take all the precursors and the offence-related property. But if the grounds are dirty, or there鈥檚 fridges or freezers that are used, that are contaminated, we don鈥檛 take that,鈥� Westwick said.

鈥淪o that鈥檚 just a fraction of what is spent.鈥�

Westwick said whenever his team finds evidence that chemicals from drug labs have been dumped, they鈥檒l call the Ministry of Environment, which then decides whether to get involved.

A statement from the ministry says it has been involved in disposing of material from four illegal drug labs since 2015. It said it鈥檚 鈥渕onitoring鈥� the case of the Falkland superlab and is 鈥渁vailable to support the RCMP upon request.鈥�

鈥淎ll contaminated sites follow the same legal requirements and processes for site investigation and remediation. It depends on the future use of a site and what substances and their concentrations are found,鈥� the statement says.

鈥淪pecific substances are regulated under the contaminated sites regime, and if drug labs materials keep evolving, keeping up with new emerging substances is part of the considerations for updates to regulations.鈥�

May, a certified hazmat technician, said homeowners are often shocked by the bill for tens of thousands of dollars to clean a house after police have left.

His company follows decontamination guidelines laid out by Alberta Health, while in B.C. they have plans approved by whichever authority is in charge of a site, he said.

After first being cleaned by a 鈥渟acrificial鈥� HEPA-filter vacuum, a drug lab will be sprayed to neutralize any drug remnants left behind, he said. Then every item in the home must be removed and decontaminated separately before getting thrown out.

鈥淎ll the contents, they all get disposed of,鈥� he said.

鈥楶ATCHWORK OF POLICIES鈥�

Trevor Hargreaves, the senior vice-president of government relations with the British Columbia Real Estate Association, said there needs to be provincewide rules around how former drug labs and grow ops are remediated.

In October, the association released a study by researchers from the University of the Fraser Valley that reviewed 20 B.C. municipal bylaws and found differences in how municipalities require unsafe properties be remediated.

鈥淓ach municipality is setting their own remediation standards. So how they go about identifying remediation, the steps to remediate, what qualifies as remediation or what qualifies as a remediated home 鈥� all of those standards differ slightly between municipalities,鈥� Hargreaves said.

The inconsistencies, he said, make banks and insurance companies squeamish, creating challenges when it comes time to sell a property that used to be a drug lab.

鈥淏ecause there is such variability in terms of the way that these homes are treated, lenders don鈥檛 like to lend. Insurers don鈥檛 like to to insure. They鈥檙e extremely cautious and scared of these properties,鈥� he said.

Hargreaves said standardizing the rules for cleaning up all labs, ranging from marijuana, to mushrooms, to chemically based drugs, would make the process easier for both sellers and buyers.

As larger drug labs are found in rural locations, he said, the need for provincial rules increases.

鈥淔or the municipalities that are very spare on resources 鈥� why are we depending on that, where we know they鈥檙e stretched thin?鈥�

A followup joint statement from the Environment and Housing ministries said if soil or groundwater remediation is conducted on a drug lab property, it will appear on the province鈥檚 public registry.

鈥淟ocal governments have the authority to create bylaws regulating certain activities within their boundaries, including the condition and general appearance of property,鈥� the statement says.

鈥淭his includes 鈥� the authority to impose remedial action requirements on a person or landowner in relation to hazardous conditions and declared nuisances on specific properties.鈥�

In a letter sent to B.C. Premier David Eby as well as the ministers of health, housing and the environment this month, Hargreaves argues a standardized, provincial multi-step remediation policy would get many much-needed homes back on the market.

The report also calls on the government to create a training and certification process for professionals involved in home remediation.

鈥淩emediation standards are necessary to ensure homes used in drug operations are safe to reintroduce into the housing market,鈥� the letter says.

鈥淭he current patchwork of policies at the municipal level are insufficient to ensure the health and safety of residences and their occupants.鈥�