space Press Releases, News Stories

By Dan Shine, Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Detroit, MICHIGAN, 6 December 2001  -- Toronto votes to send its trash to Michigan The letters sent by Gov. John Engler, Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus and scores of concerned residents to Toronto officials urging them not to export Toronto's trash to Michigan dumps are likely headed back to the state in a garbage truck.

Ignoring pleas from Michigan, Toronto's City Council approved a plan Tuesday to ship all its garbage to a Washtenaw County landfill beginning in 2003. Currently, the Canadian city of 5 million residents sends about 60 percent of its trash to Michigan. Jeff Surfus, whose group Network of Waste Activists Stopping Trash Exports (NO WASTE) has lobbied against the trash, said Wednesday that the vote was "the last nail in the coffin."

Surfus said now the fight moves to the state and federal legislatures. "There are a number of bills that can take some kind of action to reduce the amount of trash coming in to Michigan," he said. U.S. Reps. John Dingell and David Bonior, both Michigan Democrats, introduced a bill earlier this year that wouldn't ban trash imports but instead would give states and local communities more control over how much garbage is brought in. In light of the Toronto vote, U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., wants to speed up consideration of his legislation that would give states the authority to prohibit or restrict other countries from sending trash to the United States. He said Wednesday that he expects a vote on it. "I will have those votes at the end of January," Rogers said. Adding to his argument, Rogers said, are the border security concerns and increased congestion more garbage trucks will bring to the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. Currently, about 160 trucks make the daily round-trip to Michigan from Toronto.

That would increase to about 250 trucks in 2003. "If they can sneak PCBs in the trash -- which they've done -- then they can surely sneak in something else," Rogers said.

Interstate commerce rules prohibit banning shipments of trash but Rogers said his bill gets around those provisions and others in trade agreements. London, Ontario Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco, whose city is along the Highway 401 corridor the Toronto trash trucks travel, is frustrated by the lack of planning by Toronto officials. The city's main landfill will close in about a year. "We need to see some short-term and long-term viable solutions other than moving it to another city," DeCicco said Wednesday. DeCicco said she is concerned that if shipments to Michigan are stopped, her city's landfill, which has 15 years of capacity left, may be targeted to take Toronto's trash. She wants Toronto officials to look at alternatives. Ontario's minister of municipal affairs last week proposed turning the issue over to a committee that is studying issues that affect many provincial cities. The committee, which begins meeting in January, would be asked to come up with alternatives to shipping trash to Michigan within six months, including incineration and sending garbage to waste-disposal sites closer to Toronto. In 1999, Canadians sent 2.34 million cubic yards of waste to Michigan -- or 4.5 percent of all garbage shipped to state landfills, according to the waste- management division of the state Department of Environmental Quality. Michigan also gets trash from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. Michigan sends some household garbage to Canada, although not as much as that country sends here. Michigan also sends some hazardous waste to Canada. Low costs created by competition among a glut of landfills in Michigan is the reason other states and Canada send trash to Michigan. To contact Rep. Rogers, go to www.house.gov/mikerogers or write to him at 1327 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI. 48912. Contact DAN SHINE at 313-223-4554 or dshine@freepress.com