Michigan governor proposes increased waste disposal surcharge

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s state budget proposal includes a big increase in the state surcharge on dumping waste in landfills, WEMU reports.

The budget plan for the coming fiscal year would boost the surcharge from a regionally low cost of 36 cents per ton to $5 per ton, according to the report. The plan would direct revenue from that increase to pollution cleanup and recycling program, with a goal to make dumping in Michigan more expensive for out-of-state haulers.

“We’re No. 1 in the country in per-capita waste in our landfills and it’s because we’ve become a trash destination,” says Phillip Roos, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. “So just simply raising the surcharge on solid waste that goes into landfills to a level that’s approximately what other states in the region have, so that we don’t have that disproportionate incentive of coming here.”

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The governor proposed something similar in her budget in 2024, but the idea stalled, according to WEMU. Opponents say raising Michigan’s tipping surcharge would also increase costs on in-state residents and businesses. Under a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision, states cannot charge different rates to in-state and out-of-state businesses.

“Imposing a $5 trash tax on each ton of solid waste will simply increase the cost of living and doing business in Michigan,” the Lansing-based Michigan Waste and Recycling Association says in a statement. “At a time when we are looking for ways to improve Michigan’s attractiveness, increasing the trash tax will add cost to every household and business in the state as well as local governments, hospitals, public safety organizations and school districts, to name a few.”