Imported waste eating up landfills

Published 6:36 pm Saturday, February 4, 2006

By Staff
LANSING - Solid waste imported into Michigan made up 29 percent of all waste disposed of in Michigan landfills in Fiscal Year 2005, according to “The Report of Solid Waste Landfilled in Michigan” released Friday by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Michigan landfills disposed of 63,927,664 cubic yards of solid waste in FY05, and while waste disposed of by Michigan residents decreased by 343,420 cubic yards, about 1 percent, to 46,437,244 cubic yards, waste imported from other states and Canada increased 354,008 cubic yards, about 2 percent, to 18,490,320 cubic yards.
The largest source of waste imports into Michigan continues to be from Canada, with total imports of 11,878,091 cubic yards, up 3 percent from FY04.
The DEQ proposed a comprehensive solid waste strategy in 2005 to address solid waste issues that included raising the cost of using Michigan's landfills to provide funding to local communities to increase recycling, expanding the bottle bill to control litter and reduce the amount of recyclable material going to landfills and insuring disposal capacity for waste generated in Michigan while reducing excess capacity attractive to out-of-state waste generators.
While no action was taken on these initiatives, Wisconsin has demonstrated the benefits of such programs.
Wisconsin added a $3 per ton recycling surcharge to landfill tipping fees in 2002, providing funding support for Wisconsin's state recycling program and resulting in a decrease in waste imports by approximately 17 percent from 2002.
The report also noted that an increase in Wisconsin's surcharge to $7 per ton could provide a 50-percent reduction in out-of-state waste disposal in Wisconsin while also providing increased revenue to fund a comprehensive state recycling program.
Pennsylvania, which increased its surcharge to $7.25 per ton, has also experienced a reduction in solid waste imports.
Based on the capacity used during FY05, it is estimated that Michigan landfills have approximately 17 years of remaining disposal capacity.