Sludge Watch ==> Deal to reduce Canadian trash to Michigan - means other trash to Michigan

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

This is interesting.  The Michigan landfill Carleton Farms first stopped 
taking sludge - understandable since the stench was intolerable to neighbors 
and the sludge was unstable and oozing like the
Thing from the Swamp.

Then they stopped Toronto municipal waste from coming.  But not the 
institutional, commercial and industrial waste from Toronto.  As you know 
Toronto bought a landfill two hours drive west of Toronto, near London 
Ontario...so they have some new neighbors to upset.

A made-in-Canada solution for Canadian garbage is a good idea.  But it would 
be even better if Toronto would get a move on with reducing the waste it 
produces, instead of trucking to the neighbors.  And I don't mean redefining 
its sludges as 'products' slapped on rural farms to the despair of rural 
neighbours..like they do now.

..................................................................................................................

Deal to reduce Canadian trash by 2011 doesn't please all
BY TINA LAM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

October 9, 2006



Carleton Farms, in Sumpter Township on the border of Huron Township, gets a 
large portion of its trash from Canada. Sumpter Township gets more than half 
its revenue from tipping fees for Canadian trash, which helps keep taxes 
low. (STEPHEN McGEE/Detroit Free Press)

At first, Joan Slatton was thrilled to hear last month that Canadian trash 
would stop coming to Michigan by 2011.

She lives near the Carleton Farms landfill, in Wayne County's Huron 
Township, where two-thirds of the trash being dumped comes from Ontario.

"We were ready to dance in the streets," said Slatton. "It's disappointing 
to find out it won't really do much."

In an election year, Canadian trash has all the sound and fury of a big 
statewide issue.

This much is clear: A recently announced deal to keep Canadian trash out of 
Michigan doesn't do much to help the people who live near the two landfills 
that get more than 80% of foreign trash that comes to Michigan each year.

If you live near one of the landfills, like the people of rural Huron, 
Sumpter or Lenox townships, Canadian trash is either the unwelcome 
1,000-pound gorilla that stinks and won't leave or a fairy godmother waving 
a wand that flicks big tax savings.

In Sumpter Township, which gets more than half its revenue from tipping fees 
for Canadian trash, the garbage from metropolitan Toronto keeps taxes low.

In neighboring Huron Township, which gets nothing but stink and traffic from 
the trash trucks, the end of Canadian trash won't help much.

And in Macomb County's Lenox Township, there's almost no impact, since the 
landfill gets mostly commercial, not residential, trash.

On Aug. 31, Michigan U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin and Ontario's 
environment minister announced a deal to phase out Canadian household trash 
shipments into Michigan by 2011. Stabenow, who faces re-election in 
November, declared victory in the fight to stop Canadian trash.

As part of the deal, they also agreed not to push a bill that aimed to 
impose expensive fees for trash trucks crossing the border. That, according 
to some township officials, had the potential to do more and is why the 
Ontario officials were so anxious to sign the deal.

Trash equals lower taxes

In Sumpter Township, where cornfields and trailer parks dot the landscape, 
trash is king. The mammoth Carleton Farms landfill on the township's 
southeast corner pays annual fees of $2.5 to $3 million to the township, 
more than half its budget.

"When they came, we built our budget around them," said Township Supervisor 
Johnny Vawters. Trash money has paid for sewer bonds, a new Fire Department 
and public salaries. It keeps taxes low.

The loss of Canadian trash could be devastating for the township unless it's 
replaced, possibly with trash from other states, Vawters said. Vawters is 
annoyed that politicians didn't consider his township's predicament.

Sumpter residents haven't complained much about the landfill.

"Nobody here has fought Carleton Farms," said township trustee Linda 
Kennedy. "They are well aware it's our bread and butter."

Resident Sam Loggins said there isn't so much as a barbershop or grocery 
store in the township to generate other revenue. With a landfill nearby, 
businesses don't want to move in.

"It's a bittersweet pill," he said. "I hate this trash, but we have learned 
to depend on it."

If Sumpter gets its wish -- for Canadian trash to be replaced -- its 
neighbors in Huron Township won't gain much from an end to Ontario garbage. 
Carleton Farms is an unwelcome neighbor in Huron Township, where expensive 
new houses sit a half mile from the landfill. Garbage trucks fill local 
roads at all hours, sometimes causing accidents and spills. Strong odors 
waft for miles downwind.

"We passed a millage here 20 years ago to fight the dump from coming here -- 
and succeeded," said John Mitchell, supervisor of Huron Township. "Instead, 
we got all the repercussions."

Huron Township gets no revenue from the landfill.

When the winds from the right direction, said David Pyle, who lives across 
the street, "You can't leave the windows open. It's like sticking your nose 
down a garbage disposal."

Carleton Farms' owner, Republic Services Inc., said it will have to replace 
Canadian trash after 2010.

"We'll be out there marketing the landfill," said Will Flower, spokesman for 
Republic Services. "We owe it to our shareholders and to Sumpter Township to 
replace the volume."

The landfill got 67% of its trash from Canada last year, with smaller 
amounts coming from Florida, Massachusetts and Ohio.

Modern landfills, with complex systems to turn landfill gas into electricity 
and strong regulations in place to prevent them from leaking, need millions 
of dollars to operate even after they close. That means they need lots of 
trash to cover the costs, Flower said.

"Canadian trash has been so politicized," he said. He noted that audits have 
shown Canadian trash to be cleaner than other trash dumped in state 
landfills.

Because Michigan landfills have low dumping fees and plenty of room -- an 
average of 17 more years of space -- they attract other people's trash.

"Maybe we'll stop 200 trucks from Canada, but they'll pick up 200 from New 
York or Pennsylvania," said Huron Township official Mitchell.

Levin's office said Thursday that the senator was too busy to return a call 
about the Ontario agreement.

Stabenow said in a statement that despite some concerns about lost revenue, 
the response she has gotten from residents of landfill communities has been 
positive.

"This agreement is the first concrete step we have made toward stopping 
trash from Canada," Stabenow's statement said. "As a result, we have already 
seen some action from Toronto in the purchase of a new landfill so they can 
start dumping their trash in their own province."

Since 2001, 8% to 10% of the trash in Michigan landfills has come from other 
states. Canadian trash grew from 10% in 2001 to 19% last year. That means 
71% of the trash is from Michigan, and of 78 landfills the Michigan 
Department of Environmental Quality tracks, 57 take only Michigan trash.

Still, some residents will be glad to be rid of foreign garbage.

"Why target Canadian trash?" said Mary Lou Carey, who lives in Huron 
Township. "The same reason I target the Mexican border: I'm tired of being 
godfather to the world."

Carleton Farms' stench comes mostly from sewage plant sludge from Canada and 
Michigan. Neither the Stabenow-Levin deal nor legislation in Congress 
restricts sludge. Carleton Farms agreed to stop taking all sludge Aug. 1, 
after neighbors and the state raised a ruckus.

"We made a business decision to forego the revenue and do what's best for 
the neighbors," Flower said.

Dropping the sludge has already cost Sumpter Township about $250,000 in 
annual fees.

Even without the deal, Ontario would likely have stopped sending household 
trash to Michigan by 2011 because their contracts with Michigan landfills 
end then or sooner.

"We will be out of Michigan by 2008," said Andy Campbell, solid waste 
manager for the York region. "We already planned to do that."

Toronto said last week that it plans to buy a private landfill near London, 
Ontario, in three months. That's where its garbage will go after 2010. If it 
weren't for its Carleton Farms contract, which requires Toronto to deliver 
all its landfilled waste to Michigan, the city could put its trash in its 
own dump starting next year, said Geoff Rathbone, the city's solid waste 
director.

"We intend to honor our contract," he said.

Deal doesn't work for all

In Macomb County, the sprawling Pine Tree Acres landfill in Lenox Township 
imports 84% of its trash from Canada, more than Carleton Farms brings in. 
The Stabenow-Levin deal won't make a dent.

"I didn't jump up and down," said Lenox Township's supervisor, John Gardner, 
who said he's still waiting for a political solution that works.

Pine Tree's garbage is mostly commercial and industrial waste, not household 
trash. Only about 20 of more than 300 truckloads a day is Canadian household 
trash, from Durham, and will stop by 2011.

Gardner is annoyed at what Stabenow and Levin gave up.

The senators had won Senate approval for tougher border inspections and $420 
in inspection fees per Canadian trash truck, but agreed to drop the 
provisions as part of the deal.

Stabenow said in August that the inspection fees faced an uphill battle. In 
a statement Thursday, she said: "The fact is, without this agreement, we 
would still be stuck at square one."

Tired of waiting for legislators to act, Macomb officials made their own 
deal with Pine Tree owner Waste Management earlier this year to slow 
Canadian garbage. The company agreed to limit Canadian and out-of-state 
garbage to 25% of the landfill's capacity in exchange for expanding the 
landfill. The deal must be ratified by two-thirds of Macomb's communities 
and won't have much effect until Waste Management's contracts with Canadian 
companies expire over the next few years, Gardner said.

Tom Horton, spokesman for Waste Management of Michigan, said his company has 
never seen Canadian trash as a long-term business.

"This will reserve 75% of our space for Michigan trash," he said.

Horton said Michigan exports 70% of its medical waste and all its low-level 
nuclear waste, some to Canada.

Looking ahead

In Ontario, communities are aggressively recycling everything from kitchen 
scraps to styrofoam, turning some of it into pellets that can become fuel.

"We're much further ahead of you in alternatives," said Cliff Curtis, solid 
waste manager for the Durham region, referring to Americans.

They hope to keep as much as 100% of household garbage from going to 
landfills at all by 2011.

By opening new landfills and recycling, it may be the Canadians themselves 
who solve the problem.

By the yard


Where all Canadian trash, both household and commercial, went after crossing 
the border into Michigan in 2005:

Landfill
County
Cubic yards from Canada

Pine Tree Acres Macomb
5,353,239
Carleton Farms Wayne
4,273,485
Brent Run Genessee
1,153,000
Arbor Hills Washtenaw
321,030
Allied Monroe
270,551
Woodland Meadows Wayne
211,174
Sauk Trails Wayne
149,408
Richfield Genessee
109,354
Dafter Chippewa
36,849


Contact TINA LAM at 313-222-6421 or tlam at freepress.com







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