LANSING – A Canadian trash truck overturned on I-94 in St. Clair County earlier today and shut down part of the freeway during the morning rush hour, prompting State Representative Mary Valentine (D-Norton Shores) to denounce Republican leadership in the Senate for not acting on tough measures that would fight the flood of out-of-state and Canadian garbage.
"Michigan is the Great Lakes State, and if we don't act to stop the trash now, we'll become the Great Waste State," Valentine said. "Trash from other states and nations threatens our land, air, water and quality of life. People dump their garbage in Michigan for one reason and one reason alone: We're dirt cheap. Attacking the economics of the trash trade is the only way to stop the trash. The time to act is now."
Valentine is continuing her aggressive push to pass anti-trash measures. She supported legislation – passed in May by the House and now stalled in the Senate – that bans new landfills and strictly limits the expansion of existing landfills until 2012. The House in April passed legislation attacking the economics of the trash trade by increasing the state's current paltry dumping charge of 21 cents per ton. With a steeper dumping charge, Canada and other states will be forced to dump their trash elsewhere.
The Detroit Free Press reported today that a Canadian trash truck overturned on I-94 southeast of Port Huron, and that it was not clear how long it would take emergency crews to clean up and reopen the highway.
This is not the first time that Canadian trash trucks have caused problems, threatening public safety and draining resources of road and clean-up personnel. In December 2005, a Canadian trash truck traveling westbound on I-69 flipped in Capac, dumping garbage on the highway and closing it for half an hour. In November 2005, a Canadian trash truck struck a car in Huron Township in Wayne County, killing two men. In March 2005, a Canadian truck dumped human sludge in downtown Flat Rock in Wayne County.
"We're not the nation's dumping ground," Valentine said. "As long as the trash from other states and countries continues to pour into our state, these types of accidents will continue. Enough is enough. I call on my colleagues in the Senate to pass our tough anti-trash plan and put the brakes on the trash trucks rolling into our neighborhoods."