Townships To Vote on Change inWaste Plan

To keep trash pickup costs low in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, while maintaining good customer service, the Eastern Upper Peninsula Solid Waste Management Committee has proposed changes to the region's solid waste plan that will allow a second contractor to do business here. The plan is based on an agreement among Luce, Mackinac, and Chippewa counties.

If passed by the majority of area governments, changes in the plan will bring competition to the EUP's dominant waste hauler, Waste Management, by allowing trash to be dumped at two landfills that are not owned by the company, the Elk Run Landfill in Presque Isle County and the Hiawatha Shores Landfill in Schoolcraft County.

For the plan to be changed, 67% of all township, city, and village governments in the area must pass supporting resolutions. There are 36 local governments involved, said Jeff Hagan, interim director of the EUP Regional Planning and Development Commission.

His agency has requested that all municipalities affected by the changes vote on the matter by Thursday, November 1, although Mr. Hagan acknowledged that it may take longer for all municipalities to vote and report their results.

So far, county commissioners representing Luce, Chippewa, and Mackinac counties have approved the changes. The City of Sault Ste. Marie has adopted a resolution to adopt the plan, as have the townships of Moran, Portage, Pickford, Kinross Charter, and Drummond Island.

Approving the new landfills would enable Ohio-based Republic Waste Services to operate more inexpensively in the Eastern Upper Peninsula by allowing the company to collect trash in the region and dump it at its own facility in Presque Isle County, thereby avoiding tipping fees at landfills owned by Waste Management and decreasing the distance Republic would have to haul waste.

Of the three landfills in the current plan, Waste Management owns the Dafter Landfill and City Environmental/Water Landfill in Crawford County. The third, Wood Island Landfill, is owned by Great American Environmental Services, a small company in Alger County.

Waste Management has argued that increased competition will have a detrimental effect on the service the company provides and on the local economy, according to Mr. Hagan.