Michigan Rep. Wants Canada to Report Trash Shipments to U.S.

Danielle Jackson

Michigan -- Rep. John Dingell has announced that he wants Canada to notify the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, D.C., about its trash shipments to the United States. Currently, about 20 percent of Michigan's landfills are filled with imported garbage.

The two countries signed an agreement in 1986 that was amended in 1992, stating that the EPA would be notified of garbage shipments coming into the country. But researchers have discovered that in the past 10 years, the Canadian government has failed to inform the EPA of its shipments, and the U.S. government also has not enforced the agreement.