Toronto, Michigan Discuss Trash Management Issues

Date: February 27, 2003

Source: News Room

The city of Toronto has sent officials to discuss trash issues with Michigan as the Canadian city tries to calm the furor that has arisen over imported international waste. Last December, Toronto began sending all its waste to Michigan when an Ontario landfill closed. The sudden surge in waste, coupled with a new governor and legislature in Michigan, has put a new spotlight on Toronto. Toronto accounts for a quarter of the approximately 4 million tons of external waste shipped to Michigan each year. Michigan is the third-largest U.S. importer of waste, after Pennsylvania and Virginia. But Toronto officials note that Michigan has a deal with Ontario to ship hazardous waste to Canada for disposal. Two years ago, Toronto killed plans to send its waste to an abandoned mine in northern Ontario. At the time, the city unveiled an ambitious 10-year plan to divert all its waste from landfills to recycling programs by 2010. Until then, Michigan was to have been a stopgap measure.
More information: www.city.toronto.on.ca/garbage/index.htm.

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