SUMPTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- In addition to trucking garbage across the border to Michigan, Toronto soon may be shipping its human waste as well.

TORONTO TRASH TALK Should Michigan Stop The Flow Of Trash From Canada? Local Residents Concerned Over More Toronto Trash

The Carlton Farms landfill in Wayne County's Sumpter Township and the Ontario capital city are completing a four-year deal to accept Canadian human waste, according to published reports.

But the owners of the landfill and Toronto officials say sewage sludge from Detroit is already being trucked to the landfill site, about 30 miles southwest of Detroit.

The deal with landfill owner Republic Services is expected to go before a Toronto City Council committee on Wednesday.

The proposal would let Toronto send Wayne County up to 55,000 tons of sewage sludge a year, on top of about 1.1 million tons of household trash.

"I think they should keep their trash over in Canada," a concerned Sumpter Township resident told Local 4.

George Davis, of Sumpter Township, says Carlton Farms has been a good neighbor, but should rethink the sewage deal.

"Money is not everything ... the well being of their community is more than a few dollars. If that's the only way they can make money, maybe they need to look into another way to do it," Davis said.

The importing of trash has become a politically charged issue in Michigan since late last year when Toronto signed an agreement to send all of its trash to Michigan.

Environmentalists like Mike Garfield are asking state government officials to stop all Canada trash coming into Michigan, Local 4 reported.

"We're outraged by this ... we wonder when it's going to stop," Garfield said.

But politicians in Lansing and Washington have so far failed to find a way to ban imported waste that does not unconstitutionally restrain trade or violate international treaties.

Will Flower, a spokesman for Republic Services in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said the Carleton Farms landfill has been accepting sewage sludge from the city of Detroit for years, and there is no health risk.

Bob Pickett, Toronto's director of water pollution control, said the city started sending sewage sludge to Michigan late in 2000 and trucked about 20,000 tons of sewage sludge to the Sumpter Township landfill site in 2002. But until now, the city has not had a separate agreement with Republic, Pickett said.

Toronto tries to handle its sludge locally by spreading about half of it on farmers' fields and processing some into fertilizer pellets, Pickett said. He says the city uses landfills when the other two methods do not cover all of it.

Mary Dettloff, a spokeswoman for Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said the potential deal underscores the need for legislation regulating the flow of out-of-state trash and sewage sludge into Michigan.

But Flower said waste flows in both directions across the border and much of Michigan's hazardous waste is trucked to Ontario.

"Who wants to shut a door?" Flower asked. "We in Michigan need Ontario; Ontario needs us. Instead of talking about closing doors, politicians should be talking about opening doors and protecting the Constitution."