Toronto Buying Storage Space in Michigan

Every day throughout the year, 125 trucks, each laden with more than 40,000 lbs. of garbage, travel more than 200 miles along Canadian Routes 401 and 402 to Michigan from Toronto. After dumping their load in a landfill, the trucks return to Toronto. So, a citizen in any of the multitude of municipalities along the route could sit by the highway and see a stinking truck go by about every six minutes, all day and all night long. If one assumes that the truck drivers slept at night, the stinking truck frequency would drop to one every three minutes. This project costs the taxpayers in Toronto $55,000,000 per year.

It should be mentioned that the numbers cited are best estimates by people who are criticized because of the numbers so there's an inclination to have them as small as possible. It also needs to be mentioned that, to date, there has been no comprehensive statistical assessment performed and reported concerning the garbage issue. Bits and pieces of the problem have been looked at, but the results usually conflict. For example, just concerning the number of truckloads daily, I've seen estimates as low as 100 and some, more than 200.

In one respect, the $55 million figure quoted is misleading since it only addresses landfill fees which are paid to the Michigan property owners. What's not included are the costs associated with buying and maintaining a fleet of trucks, fuel, oil, insurance, registration, tolls, driver's salaries, and wear and tear on the highways of Ontario. Including these expenses would undoubtedly add to the total cost of shipping garbage to Michigan. By the way, unquantifiable is the cost of having a continuous caravan of stinking garbage trucks marring the aesthetic beauty of the Ontario countryside. Call it an unfriendly to tourists feature.

Dealing strictly with the international trade aspect of the issue, the citizens of Ontario are paying the citizens of Michigan $55 million in exchange for a permanent storage space for their garbage. With such a large expenditure, it would be reasonable to assume that Canadian taxpayers must buy space in Michigan because they don't have enough space in Ontario. And, it would be a wrong assumption. Ontario is seven times the size of Michigan so there is more than enough space for Toronto's garbage right in the home province. That fact alone indicates there is some other reason for paying the $55 million and there is. It's the loud environmental activist groups.

Money is being paid to Michigan because, any time an effort is proposed to create a new landfill in Ontario, the environmental groups mobilize their supporters to protest. They protest long, loud, and forcefully. The politicians cower obsequiously. Mere mention of the Toronto Environmental Alliance and the Citizens for a Safe Environment, among others, and the city and provincial officials genuflect. The greenies squeal, the politicians kneel. That's a fact of life in Ontario.

In a nutshell, since it would be considerably cheaper to put the garbage in an Ontario landfill and it's not occurring, the reason the taxpayers of Toronto pay $55 million yearly to Michigan property owners is to avoid, at all costs, having to listen to the environmentalists.

More on the Canadian garbage issue can be found here.

Hat tip: Debbye S.