LANSING – Trash trucks on their way to Michigan landfills overturned this week in Ontario, prompting State Representative Robert Dean (D-Grand Rapids) 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.
"It's been nearly a year since the House passed a tough anti-trash plan," Dean said. "For too long, we have allowed our state to become a dumping ground for Canadian trash. The time for delay by the Senate is over. I call on my colleagues in that chamber to pass our plan that will help bring good-paying jobs to Michigan by keeping our communities safe and protecting our land, air and water."
Dean and his colleagues are continuing to aggressively push to pass anti-trash measures. They passed legislation in May 2007 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.
Dean added that according to the Toledo Blade, a Monroe man was injured on Feb. 19 when his trash truck overturned on northbound I-75, shutting down the highway for several hours.
"Other states have shown that when you get tough and attack the economics of the trash trade, you will get positive results," Dean said. "When it comes to trash, we're the No. 1 dump in the Great Lakes. We need to protect what makes us special, and we can do that by changing the bottom line for these trash haulers and start turning those trash trucks around."