Canada’s Trash Issue

Michigan is not the only area dealing with trash issues. Canada’s dependency on the United States is due to their own landfill crisis.“The lack of landfill capacity in Canada is reaching crisis proportions”, says the Ontario Waste Management Association president Nigel Guilford. The situation is only expected to get worse. The capacity to dispose of waste across the border will drop by 50% by 2010. This would result in even more trash being sent into the United States, primarily Michigan. The current Canadian government wants to divert 60% of waste away from landfills through recycling programs, but has no plan to implement this reduction. Ontario Waste Management Association. (2005, May 17). Ontario Facing a Wate Disposal Crisis. http://www.owma.org/db/db2file.asp?fileid=314

Opening landfills in Canada is not an easy task. Environmental laws make it very difficult to develop a landfill and citizens within the provinces aren’t too fond of  “dump-development.” In 2005, elections took place to produce a landfill in the province of Southgate Township for Toronto’s trash. The seven member council voted 4-3 against it. Resident Pam Walker made such statements as, “I really think that this is not how we see rural Ontario, as a dumping ground for other communities. This is not a step forward. This is a step backward." Deputy Mayor Ken Harrison said, "Toronto's garbage is not our problem, there has to be some other way for us to find the monies we need without taking on someone else's problems." Vitold Kreutzer who owns an organic bakery stated, "Who wants to move into an area where there's a major dump? This will become a major ghost area." http://www.1010city.com/arti_view.php?province=8&city=2015&article=4369

Canada doesn’t seem to want their own trash and they are ready to make sure that, at least for the time being, it remains in Michigan. In fact, Canada promises to fight any trash ban that might be implemented. Breaking a long silence from federal officials, Canadian International Trade Minister Jim Peterson said efforts to close Michigan to the neighboring nation's garbage violate the North American Free Trade Agreement and other treaties. He warned Canada will fight efforts in the U.S. Congress to allow Michigan and other states to ban imported waste. "Should the state of Michigan close its border to shipments of municipal solid waste from Canada, the government would vigorously defend our rights under NAFTA and the World Trade Organization," Peterson wrote in a letter to Toronto city officials. If the U.S. Congress does allow a trash ban, Canada has many options, including higher tariffs due to unfair trade practices, said Brooke Grantham, spokesman for Peterson. Kurth, J. ( 2005, Dec. 1). Canada Promises to Fight Trash Ban. The Detroit News. http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051201/METRO/512010410&SearchID=73228849822852.

Regardless of all reports showing the dependency on Michigan for waste disposal, Canada maintains that they are going to be out by 2010. Shelly Caroll, of the Toronto City Council said, “there won’t be any reason to send garbage trucks across the border in four or five years because the pressure to get out of Michigan is coming from our own citizens.”  Caroll ensures that because of recycling, no hazardous materials are crossing the border into Michigan. However, because of lax inspection policies at the border, there is no proof to back up her statements. Conat, R. (2006, March 7). State, Canada Leaders Talk Trash. ABC 12.com.. http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=state&id=3969949.  

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Last modified: 05/23/06