Harrison Township receives county solid-waste plan amendment for Pine Tree Acres; supervisor flags Canadian trash concerns

At its March 23 meeting the Harrison Township Board received and filed a county-level solid-waste plan amendment proposed by Waste Management of Michigan that would expand the Pine Tree Acres landfill in Lenox Township.

Supervisor Kenneth Verkest summarized the amendment, which would add approximately 236.5 acres to the facility’s planned footprint (including about 135 acres of engineered disposal area), permit a recycling transfer station on WM-owned property within the site, and extend the landfill’s projected remaining life by roughly 25 years to preserve disposal capacity at current service levels. The Macomb County Planning Committee reviewed and refined the proposal and the Macomb County Board of Commissioners approved it 13–0 before forwarding it to municipalities for consideration.

Verkest said some community objections center on the amendment’s apparent failure to limit inbound Canadian waste; he said some supporters gave misleading answers about the volume of Canadian trash imported to Pine Tree Acres. He added that the township currently lacks a viable mechanism to limit such imports, and that the county plan represents a pragmatic path forward. The Board voted to receive and file the resolution; the roll call showed six ayes and one nay (Supervisor Verkest cast the sole dissent on the motion to receive and file). Public comment was recorded.

The action taken by Harrison Township is a local municipal response to a county planning process; it does not itself change landfill operations or issue permits. The county plan must proceed through statutory review and local municipal resolutions as part of the Macomb County solid-waste planning, and individual permitting for facility changes remains under state and county regulatory processes.

Next steps: municipalities will consider resolutions; county and regulatory approvals will govern any operational changes at Pine Tree Acres.