A new Michigan law is forcing motorists to change the way they treat garbage trucks and service vehicles.

Michigan’s Slow Down to Get Around legislation passed in January and will allow law enforcement to bring felony charges against motorists who injure or kill anyone working on or around garbage trucks and roadside vehicles.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm will hold a ceremonial signing for the bill today at the Capitol in Lansing.

“It is an all too frequent occurrence where we have vehicles that are struck by careless drivers,” said Tom Horton, Midwest vice president of public affairs for Waste Management. “Too often we have individuals that are injured or killed because people are not paying attention.”

The legislation was made by a Mid-Michigan coalition of communities, local governments and organizations, including MSU, that have been working together since 2006.

One of the original businesses involved was Granger Container Services based in Lansing. Granger’s chief financial officer Steve Reed said employees at the company noticed there were no laws enacted to help protect on-road service providers.

“We thought that if we could expand the same laws for the police officers to others that work on the side of the road … that people would take more caution,” Reed said.

Since 2007, Granger has promoted the Slow Down to Get Around campaign, posting it on billboards in the Lansing area and sending out flyers to Granger customers.

“It wasn’t a law at that time but at least it did give people the awareness,” Reed said. “We have, as a company, seen a decrease in close calls and that’s without getting the law in place.”

East Lansing was one of the first cities in Mid-Michigan to support the safety campaign, said Angela Mabin, a public service administrator in the city’s Department of Public Works. In 2006, the City Council adopted a resolution to address safety issues regarding garbage trucks and roadside service vehicles.

“We tried initially at the grassroots level,” Mabin said. “We tried to get municipalities and townships to adopt this.”

Mabin was one of the original advocates for the legislation. She said she hopes the new legislation will make residents more conscious of all city vehicles.

“It will hopefully provide a safer work environment for our employees when they are working out in the roadway because now, by law, drivers are required to slow down as they pass and approach,” she said.

Published on Wednesday, June 3, 2009

We’re all for discouraging Canada from making Michigan its back-door dumping ground. But state House Democrats’ idea of a $7.50-per-ton landfill tax will punish everyone, not just the Canadians who are dumping waste here.

Jackson County has one of the highest tipping fees in the nation, at $89.62 per ton. That means waste haulers must pay that amount every time they drop off trash at the county incinerator. They pass that cost along to customers as part of the hauling fees we all pay. An additional $7.50 per ton is not palatable to us.

In Jackson County, haulers must, by county ordinance, take their waste to the county incinerator; most is burned there, but about a quarter of it is buried in the McGill Road landfill.

We understand House Democrats’ anger that Michigan landfills accept Canadian trash — not just a little of it, but hundreds of truckloads every day. Actually, more than a few Republicans are upset by it too. There was enough bipartisan consensus last year to ban any new landfills — a ban that expired on Dec. 31.

Earlier this month, Democrats called for passage of a resolution that would let state voters decide whether a ban on new landfills should be continued, and whether the state should increase its current 21 cent-per-ton tipping fee to $7.50 per ton.
Some increase in the fee may merit discussion, but there are two problems: one, Jackson County residents could suffer disproportionate harm; and two, would that amount really discourage Canadian companies from bringing their waste here? If not, it’s a huge tax for no gain.

As we’ve argued before, the Canadian waste problem needs to be resolved at the federal level. Since the U.S. Supreme Court says this issue falls under the interstate commerce law, the solution is for Congress to amend the law to allow states some reasonable protection against being buried in waste from other countries.

Four members of Michigan’s congressional delegation are on the Committee on Energy and Commerce. One of them is U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who reported in December that he and the others worked last year in a bipartisan push to get a floor vote on H.R. 2491.

That legislation would give the states new tools for managing trash imported from Canada.

Though Dingell and the others got the bill through two committees without a single vote against it, the House leadership (Republicans) has yet to schedule it for a floor vote.
Since this is a bipartisan problem, it demands a bipartisan solution that will serve the broad interest. And it is a much better solution than a new state tax. How about a floor vote, Republicans?

In 2004, state Republican lawmakers passed bills they vowed would stop the importation of Canadian trash in its tracks.

The bills didn’t stem the flow by a single bag.

In 2005, the GOP passed a ban on out-of-state trash, but it would go into effect only if Congress agreed. It didn’t get a second look.

Now, state Democrats are making big promises about a ballot issue proposed for November.

If we’re silly enough to vote yes, the scheme would probably work. But every homeowner in the state would pay dearly for it, probably for years to come. It needs to be trashed long before November.

All the political posturing is because Michigan has become the dumping ground for trash from Canada and even New Jersey. Why? It’s cheaper and easier here.

While other states raised landfill rates and beefed up regulations and enforcement, Michigan let things slide to the point where we became the trash bargain of the century.

Trash haulers pay a paltry 21 cents a ton to dump here, compared to $3.74 in Wisconsin, $4 in Illinois, $4.75 in Iowa and $7.25 in Pennsylvania.

It’s a staggering price gap that no municipal government in its right mind would pass up. And they haven’t.

Simply banning trash won’t work. Under the North American Free Trade Act, garbage is a commodity, just like automobiles, and few restrictions can be placed on its trade.

It’s a significant problem for Michigan. Valuable landfill space is being eaten up by outstate  garbage, which means we’ll have to build more landfills, each one a potential environmental threat.

The Democrats’ solution? Throw your money at it. Their ballot initiative would raise the dumping fee in Michigan from 21 cents per ton to $7.50. That may stem some Canadian trash. But it would also represent a more than 35-fold hike for in-state trash haulers – a hike that would surely be passed on to residents.

The GOP put the cost at $150 million a year.

A lawmaker who suggested a hike of that magnitude in any tax or fee could expect to be run out of town on a rail. That’s what needs to happen to this bill.

We need a solution to trash imports, but this isn’t it. And if this is the best thinking on the issue on the Democratic side, they have more problems than trash.

House Minority Leader Dianne Byrum (D-Onondaga) has said trash importation is the Democrats’ No. 1 issue. In a state that is bleeding jobs and where public schools are going broke, that’s almost laughable.

But no one will be laughing if their trash bill jumps a couple hundred percent.

Democratic, Republican plans don’t provide suitable remedy

The one thing certain about the influx of Canadian trash into Michigan is the overwhelming majority of the state’s residents want it stopped. The problem, of course, is state leaders have few ways to keep it out.

State Democrats have been more vocal about the garbage flow. Their opposition resonates strongly in the Blue Water Area. About 415 truckloads of Canadian trash cross the Blue Water Bridge every day.

With Michigan residents demanding an end to this unpleasant import, Democrats propose raising trash-dumping fees from 21 cents to $7.50 a ton and banning new landfill construction until 2010. The reform probably would reduce the number of Canadian trash trucks, but it also could pose hardship on Michiganders.

Raising the dumping fees against out-of-state trash, Canadian or otherwise, would be illegal. It would constitute restraint of interstate commerce, something the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states don’t have the power to do. Therefore, the rate increase would have to be applied across the board.

State Democrats want Michigan residents to vote on the proposal. Although, its intent – to reduce the influx of trash from Canada – is good, its effect would be mixed.

State Republicans’ approach isn’t much better. The GOP plan would ban foreign trash shipments into Michigan, but the proposed legislation depends on Congress first passing a law that gives states the power to do so.

Michigan continues to hope federal lawmakers would enact such legislation. Despite this state’s need, Congress doesn’t appear to be in any hurry. Calls for such action have been made for more than a decade with no result.

Sadly, the unavoidable truth is neither Michigan’s voters nor its lawmakers are in a position to grant real relief from the garbage influx, and it’s frustrating that federal lawmakers are taking no action.

State Democrats and Republicans understand, however, that Canadian trash is a hot-button issue, and they are trying to respond as best they can. Unfortunately, the solution is beyond their reach.

Originally published January 17, 2006