Statistics Canada estimates that Canadians produce 21 million tonnes of garbage every year, an average of 675 kilograms per person. That’s a lot of garbage — enough to earn Canada the dubious distinction of being the being the second most wasteful country on the planet (the United States produces an estimated annual 720 kilograms per person).

As long as we’ve had an out-of-the-way place to put all of this garbage, it’s been relatively easy to ignore the consequences of that wastefulness. But, landfills are becoming full. Cities are expanding outside their boundaries, and people have become more conscious of the environmental consequences (methane production, offensive odours, or toxic leachates) of burying waste. Municipalities are looking further and further away from the source of the problem for landfill space.

As Canada’s biggest city, and the producer of one million tonnes of garbage each year, Toronto has become the flashpoint in this debate. In the 1990s, some bright folks came up with the idea of sending the city’s trash to an abandoned mine near Kirkland Lake. That plan was narrowly defeated on a technicality — city councillors opposed to the deal revealed that the city had an open-ended environmental liability.Toronto then decided to truck its waste to Michigan. One hundred and thirty garbagetrucks rumble across the border every day. Opposition is becomingincreasingly strident — not only from Michigan residents, but also from people who live near the 401.

In her first State of the State Address, Michigan Governor JenniferGranholm (a Canadian by birth) promised that

“We will no longer allow Michigan to be North America’s dumping ground. Federal law doesn’t allow us to ban this trade in Canadian and out-of-state trash, but we do have the right to insist that trash dumped in our landfills meets our standards. I am asking this legislature to act now to pass legislation that will allow us to refuse to accept solid waste loaded with batteries, bottles, cans and toxic substances that jeopardize our health and safety. Our state cannot — and will not — be the nation’s trash can.”

But, there’s good money to be made in disposing of out-of-stategarbage, so the problem isn’t just going to go away after a fewspeeches by politicians. Just ask the world’s richest man: Bill Gates is the largest shareholder in Republic, owner of the landfill that istaking Toronto’s trash.

As Granholm indicates, despite its wish to do so, Michigan cannot banwaste imports, nor treat Canadian waste any differently than it treats thehuge volumes of waste trucked to its landfills from New York,Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The North American FreeTrade Agreement says that goods (garbage) have to be treated equallyregardless of their country of origin. The same rules prevent Canadafrom banning the United States (including Michigan) from sending theirtoxic waste to Canada for disposal.

According to the Canadian Environmental Law Association,

“Canada is importing alarming amounts of toxic waste. Most of it comes from the US. Almost all of it ends up in Quebec and Ontario. Every year, Quebec imports more than 333,000 tonnes. Ontario imports about 324,000 tonnes. Across the country, the total is more than 660,000 tonnes. Canada imports more than twice as much waste from the US as Mexico does.”

Mark Winfield, co-author of the report, told CBC News: “What we’re seeing here is almost a classic pollution haven effect. You’ve got an activity moving from one place to another, because the standards here are lower than the United States.”

Since 1988, Michigan has also been shipping its garbage to Canada in the form of emissions from the world’s largest incinerator. Located in Detroit, environmentalists report that the incinerator emits the following toxic pollutants: lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and the deadly chemical compounds known as dioxins (or furans). The ash from the incinerator is itself designated as toxic waste. Maybe Michigan politicians should make a few speeches about that.

Back at home, there are alternatives to burying our waste at home,trucking it away, or opening our own incinerator. In Edmonton, more than 70 per cent of waste is recovered at its new $150-million compostfacility. A recycling plant diverts a further 15 per cent of householdwaste — paper, aluminum cans, plastics and milk cartons — from the garbage stream. All beverage cans are subject to a deposit. In Prince Edward Island, soft drinks are required to be sold in refillablecontainers. Even at campgrounds and hotels, all trash is sorted intowet, dry and recyclable waste. Similar systems exist in Halifax, NovaScotia and, closer to home, in Guelph. Toronto is way behind.

In the short term, these initiatives cost a little more than trucking garbage to Michigan. But, factoring in the short and long term environmental costs, wouldn’t it make more sense to invest the money now — before we are all buried in garbage?

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Scott Piatkowski

Scott Piatkowski is a former columnist for rabble.ca. He wrote a weekly column for 13 years that appeared in the Waterloo Chronicle, the Woolwich Observer and ECHO Weekly. He has also written for Straight...