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We are the Great Lakes State, not the Great Waste State!
We must reduce the flow of Canadian and out-of-state trash coming into Michigan, including to our own landfill in Chippewa County.
Our glut of landfills and low dumping charges have made Michigan a cheap destination for imported garbage. We took in 6.2 million tons of Canadian and out-of-state trash in 2005. This was 100,000 tons more than in 2004, according to a Department of Environmental Quality report.
More than 400 trash trucks rumble into Michigan from Canada each day. This deteriorates our highways and local roads and threatens our environment.
The Upper Peninsula, which gets both Canadian and Wisconsin garbage, saw a 33,600-ton increase in imported trash in 2005 from 2004.
To fight the flood of garbage, Michigan must attack the economics of the trash trade and make garbage companies pay their fair share. I have introduced a plan that would raise the state's dumping charge from 21 cents a ton - the region's lowest - to $7.50 a ton and ban new landfills until 2011.
The reason folks dump here is because we're cheap. If the legislature is serious about protecting our land, air and water than they'll act on this plan. I will continue to fight for the state legislature to take action at the state level.
Attacking the profits of the big waste haulers is the only way to prevent Michigan from becoming the nation's dumping ground.
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