LANSING – Trash trucks on their way to Michigan landfills overturned this week in Ontario, prompting State Representative Marie Donigan (D-Royal Oak) to blast the Republican leadership in the Senate for not acting on tough measures that would fight the flood of out-of-state and Canadian garbage.
"We must act now to stop the trash flowing into Michigan from Canada and other states," Donigan said. "I urge the Senate to stop stonewalling, and pass our tough anti-trash plan that will keep our state from becoming a dumping ground."
The House Democrats are continuing to aggressively push to pass anti-trash measures. They passed legislation in May 2007 by the House and now stalled in the Senate – that bans new landfills and strictly limits the expansion of existing landfills until 2012.
In April 2007, the House passed legislation increasing the state's current paltry dumping charge of 21 cents per ton. With a steeper dumping charge, Canada and other states will be forced to dump their trash elsewhere.
This is not the first time that Canadian trash trucks have caused problems, threatening public safety and draining resources of road and clean-up personnel. In December 2005, a Canadian trash truck traveling westbound on I-69 flipped in Capac, dumping garbage on the highway and closing it for half an hour. In November 2005, a Canadian trash truck struck a car in Huron Township in Wayne County, killing two men. In March 2005, a Canadian truck dumped human sludge in downtown Flat Rock in Wayne County.
"We get exploited and dumped on by other states and Canada because our rates are too low," Donigan said. "For far too long, outsiders have been allowed to endanger our land, our water, our roads and our quality of life. Let's stand up for our citizens and stop outsiders from trashing our state."