Michigan Officials Trying To Curb Canadian Trash
Posted July 30, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Macomb County has struck a deal with a waste company that would reduce the amount of Canuck garbage dumped in Michigan by up to a third, or one million tonnes. The new dumping guidelines would go into effect by April 2007 if the deal goes through.
A neighbouring county is reportedly considering a similar move and if others do the same Canadian cities, especially Toronto, may be forced to come up with a back-up plan for their garbage, and fast.
“If Toronto is not able to overcome legislative barriers, they will likely end up dumping somewhere else,” Mary-Jane Middelkoop, a policy analyst with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, explained.
“The fact that we’re shipping garbage to another country is a problem in the first place.”
About 3.5 million tonnes of Canadian garbage is shipped to Michigan each year and about one million tonnes of that trash comes from Toronto. Macomb County takes more than 40 percent of all the Canuck trash shipped to the U.S.
Under the proposed deal between Macomb County and U.S. firm Waste Management Inc., only 25 percent of the total amount of trash its dump will accept can be Canadian. In return, the county will allow the company to expand the landfill.
The county will also collect 55 cents for each tonne of Canadian trash dumped in its landfill under the plan.
Macomb County has presented the deal to 27 cities and towns and two-thirds must approve for it to be ratified.
Last year, Waste Management of Canada, which ships Toronto trash to Michigan, outlined plans for four of its Ontario landfills to take Toronto trash should the Michigan border close. Those Ontario sites are near Sarnia, Napanee and Ottawa.
