Ontario on Track to Eliminate Trash Shipments by 2010?

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TORONTO 000033

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STATE FOR H/SENATE AFFAIRS

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: ELTN SENV PGOV PREL CA US
SUBJECT: Ontario on Track to Eliminate Trash Shipments by 2010?

Ref: (A) 08 Toronto 107
(B) 07 Toronto 124 (AND PREVIOUS)

Sensitive But Unclassified -- Please protect accordingly.


1. (U) Summary: Two recently released reports make it difficult to
judge exactly how close Ontario is to its goal of phasing out
shipments of municipal trash to Michigan by the end of 2010. A 40%
reduction by 2009 was set as an interim target. According to U.S.
media reports, the reductions appear to fall short of the agreement.
By contrast, Ontario officials from the Ministry of the Environment
tell us they are confident Ontario is on its way to meeting its
goal. End Summary.

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2006 Waste Reduction Agreement
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2. (U) Michigan and Ontario leaders struck a deal in 2006 which
obligated the province to phase out shipments of municipal solid
waste (MSW) to Michigan by the end of 2010. The regional
municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) -- York, Peel, and
Durham, and the City of Toronto - were to reduce MSW shipments by
20% in 2007, and by another 20% by the end of 2008, based on actual
amounts shipped in 2005. In return, Michigan's Senators agreed not
to pursue amendments to the Homeland Security Appropriation Bill (SA
4657 and SA 4617),or to pursue similar future measures that would
allow states to prohibit the importation of MSW. The 2006 agreement
did not cover industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) waste
shipments to Michigan from the province, primarily from
non-municipally-managed sources.

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The Reports
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3. (U) The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
reported on January 30 that Ontario sent about 2% less trash to
state landfills in fiscal 2008, ending September 30, compared with a
year earlier. Canadian trash coming into Michigan has dropped more
than 11% since peaking in 2006. Ontario shipped 10.7 million cubic
yards of trash to Michigan in 2008 (nearly 19% of the state's 57.1
million cubic-yard total imported MSW).

4. (U) Conversely, according to a report released on January 30 by
Toronto city officials, Toronto has cut trash loads to Michigan by
50% over the last five years. All five GTA municipalities together
reduced their 2007 MSW shipments to within 1% of the agreed upon
target. While final numbers for 2008 are not yet available, the
number of tractor trailers hauling Toronto's MSW to Michigan has
dropped from 140 in 2003 to about 70 each day, according to the
city. Additional unspecified truckloads come from the other GTA
municipalities.
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Waste Diversion
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5. (U) Approximately 60% of Toronto's waste reduction reportedly is
a result of individual household and industrial waste diversion.
People are recycling more in large part because of increased fees
imposed by the city of Toronto. When Toronto began its waste
shipments to Michigan in 1998, 30 truckloads a day crossed the
border. That number grew when Toronto's only active landfill closed
and Michigan became Toronto's primary landfill site. When the
Michigan contract expires in 2010, Toronto's remaining solid waste
will be sent to the Green Lane and Warwick landfill sites in
southwestern Ontario. Waste will also be diverted through
composting and biomass conversion to electricity and other energy
sources, as well as other measures. Other GTA municipalities have
switched to landfill sites in their regions, within the province and
the Provincial government has authorized the expansion of several
landfills located within the province.

6. (SBU) While at first glance the Michigan and Toronto reports
seem contradictory, their reporting methodologies are different.
Michigan's numbers cover the state's fiscal year-end, ending
September 30, while Toronto's numbers represent the calendar year,
ending December 31. Toronto's report includes only MSW collected by
the five GTA municipalities; the Michigan report counts all waste
from Canada, including ICI. Finally, a completely accurate
comparison would factor the difference between cubic yards and
metric tons.


7. (SBU) While Ontario provincial officials are confident that the
agreement is being honored and have assured us that their
counterpart U.S. officials are satisfied with the progress, we have
not heard from any Michigan officials. The final test may be
whether an attempt to legally proscribe trash shipments is
re-introduced by Michigan's representatives.



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