Michigan

Don't Trash Michigan Campaign

Facts about Michigan Waste:
  • 3rd in the nation for the amount of trash imported from other states.
  • Charges only 21 cents/ton to dump into its landfills compared to $7.25 in Pennsylvania and $3 in Wisconsin.
  • Lowest recycling rate in the Great Lakes region.
  • Only 1/3 of all residents have access to curbside recycling and only ½ of all residents have access to drop-off recycling.
  • A $7.50 dumping charge would amount to about $8.00 a household per year. This revenue would be used primarily to fund recycling

Michigan's trash problems keep getting worse.

Probably the most visible sign of this is the increasing amount of trash being imported from other states and Canada. In 2005, roughly a third of all trash dumped in Michigan landfills was generated in Canada and other states.

Michigan is a magnet for Canadian and out-of-state waste. For more than a decade, Michigan's policies have allowed other states and Canada to dump increasing amounts of trash into our landfills. Our state government even subsidized a dramatic increase in the construction of new landfills and the expansion of existing landfills. For example, although the practice ended a little less than a year ago, in the past twelve years, the Michigan Strategic Fund used - our taxes- to underwrite at least $122 million in tax-free bonds for financing the expansion of landfill capacity in Michigan. The increase in landfill space has driven down the cost for other states and Canada to haul in waste, making Michigan an attractive place to dump trash.

Legislative efforts have done little. While bills addressing the symptoms of Michigan's trash crisis have become law, none of these efforts cut to the heart of the problem: dumping trash in Michigan is dirt cheap and landfill space is plentiful. In fact, the volume of out-of-state waste increased 3% in 2005 from the year before.

Take Action Now We do not have to wait for the federal government to take action to solve Michigan's out of state and Canadian waste problems. Clean Water Action is working with committed state lawmakers to reduce the inflow of trash to our landfills by increasing the dumping charge for every ton of trash disposed of a Michigan landfill. Such a charge will make Michigan less attractive to out-of-state waste while generating much needed revenue to fund local recycling programs. Further, we are working to ban the construction and expansion landfills until 2012. Write your State Representatives and urge them to take action now to curb the flow of out of state and Canadian waste to Michigan.