Just hours before a Michigan landfill stops accepting Toronto's treated sewage sludge, city negotiators were working to sign deals with three U.S. companies to take 90,000 tonnes of the waste.

Shelley Carroll, chair of the city's works committee, said negotiators were in last-minute talks with the companies in New York and Ohio.

Toronto needs to find takers for 90,000 tonnes of sludge.
(CBC)

City officials have spent the past few days scrambling to find takers for the 160,000 tonnes of sludge it has been sending to a Detroit-area site, which has refused to accept the waste as of midnight on Monday night.

Two contracts were signed late Friday with two Quebec-based companies — Environmental Management Solutions Inc. and Ferti-val Inc. — to take about 70,000 tonnes of the waste.

Officials said sending the sludge to five landfills instead of one will require a lot more money and co-ordination.

The city currently sends 14 trucks full of sludge to the Michigan landfill, Carleton Farms. Two months ago, the Detroit-area landfill site owned by Republic Services gave notice that it would no longer accept the waste product, starting Aug. 1.

Since then, the city has been searching for other sites to take the solid waste that remains after raw sewage is treated and the purified water is returned to the lake.

Meanwhile, the city is taking the Michigan landfill company to court for breaking its contract. Both parties are expected in court this week.