Dive Brief:

• Officials in Macomb County, Michigan are trying to keep out of an ongoing battle for waste dominance between two haulers.
• Rizzo Environmental Services is up against Waste Management, the national waste and recycling giant. Rizzo wants to open a second landfill in the area, creating direct market competition where there had previously been none.
• Rizzo wants Macomb county to lift its limits of waste exports from Macomb and Wayne counties. Then the company says it will stop the plans for a landfill.

Dive Insight:

Attorneys for Waste Management issued a response that the county limits are not enforced, but instead are simply recommendations. Company officials state that it's an open market. A legal opinion will be issued by the County Board of Commissioners to clarify if the county waste plan established voluntary or mandatory export limits. Rizzo's proposed landfill has been met with opposition from different groups and would need a two-thirds majority from 27 communities in Macomb county.