Canadian Trash Being Trucked Into Michigan Land Fills

¶ … Canadian trash being trucked in to Michigan landfills for disposal. Specifically, it will discuss how can we stop the Canadian trash from filling up our Michigan landfills for an audience who feels the Michigan waste disposal companies are justified in accepting trash from Canada and other states in Michigan landfills. Canadian trash (and trash from other states) is a major problem facing our landfills today, and we must find a way to create new ways of dealing with waste, while finding new areas for landfill before our current landfills load up.

Canadian Trash in Michigan Land Fills

Did you know that "National figures indicate that for each person, an average of 4.3 pounds of solid waste is generated daily? For Michigan, this translates to approximately 20,000 tons a day or 7.1 million tons a year" (Harrison 1). If that sounds like quite a bit of trash to dispose of effectively each year, you're right, but unfortunately, there is even more trash coming into Michigan for disposal from Canada, and so, the Michigan landfills are coping not only with our own mountain of waste, but waste from Canada too, and it must be stopped. While our state receives waste from other states, Canada exports almost half of all the solid waste into our state "-- 47% -- of all solid waste coming into Michigan. Indiana and Ohio are next, with approximately 17% each. The imported waste goes to landfills in 14 counties; Wayne and Berrien receive the majority" (Harrison 2). Obviously, each of our landfills has a finite amount of waste it can hold, and as more of our landfills reach their breaking points, we will need to find new locations for our waste. With our own state generating 7.1 million tons a year or more of garbage, we need to find our own solutions, while encouraging Canada to create their own solutions for their waste, which is clearly adding to our own solid waste disposal issues. Each country should be able to manage their own waste disposal, without relying on the other for support. Adding to the problem are private waste disposal companies, who can (and do) take trash from anywhere in their facilities to make money, rather than look toward long-term solutions to the waste problem.

What is the solution to this mass of waste threatening Michigan? The Michigan Senate believes one way to solve the problem is to aggressively ban outside waste that does not adhere to strict standards. SB 98, the Solid Waste Package would enact strict requirements that solid waste entering the state would have to meet. They include:

1) The materials are homogeneous solid waste - other than municipal incinerator ash - and meet the requirements for disposal in a Michigan landfill. 2) The materials were received through a materials recovery facility, transfer station, or other facility that has removed from the waste the items that are prohibited from being disposed in a landfill in Michigan and this action has been documented. 3) The country, state, province, or local jurisdiction is included on the list compiled by the DEQ (the list is provided for in SB 502) which contains information regarding countries, states, provinces, and local jurisdictions that prohibit from their landfills a list at least as stringent as those prohibited from Michigan's landfills (the list is contained in SB 498) (Staff).