Michigan landfill bans Toronto sludge

Carleton Farms, a landfill in Wayne Co., Mich., announced last week that it would no longer accept treated sewer sludge from the city of Toronto. The ban, which takes effect Aug. 1, is the latest sortie in the long-running waste battle between the Canadian province of Ontario and the state of Michigan, which has long sought to place legislative limits on trash exports from Canada.

In an Associated Press report, the landfill’s operators attribute the ban to numerous complaints from area residents about odors emanating from the facility. Nevertheless, a spokesman for the landfill said the decision was not influenced by a class-action lawsuit filed in April over the same complaint.

Despite the sludge ban, Carleton Farms will continue to accept Toronto’s trash, estimated at 770,000 tons annually. The city says it plans to stop exporting waste to Michigan by 2010.