WASHINGTON — Canadian waste haulers dumping in Michigan may soon see sky-high trucking fees and stepped-up equipment inspections when they show up at the border.

The Senate last week approved a Homeland Security bill pushed over the last year by Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, Associate Press reports.

The measure, which must still clear House approval, imposes estimated inspection fees of about $420 per truck, which could eventually turn off trucking companies and their customers — namely the City of Toronto — from hauling garbage to the U.S.

About 350 truckloads of trash a day enters the U.S., mainly through the crossings at Detroit and Port Huron.

The provision would also require US Customs and Border Protection to review its screening process for municipal solid waste. If a system isn’t developed soon, the proposal would require Homeland Security to stop trash trucks from entering the U.S. altogether.

Both Michigan politicians eventually want to see trash from Canada banned entirely, but until then they hope the policy transfers the cost of dumping garbage in the state “from American taxpayers to Canadian trash haulers.”

“In addition to improved screening of trash for security threats, the steep inspection fees are an important step toward making it unprofitable for Canada to dump its trash in Michigan,” Stabenow said in a press release.

A Homeland Security report released in March blasted US Customs for the lack of inspections conducted on trash trucks crossing the border. The report suggested that trucks frequently carry medical waste and illegal materials to U.S. landfills.

Unlike with other freight, it is not possible to trace the origin of waste-related cargo, which prevents officials to ensure the security of the supply chain, American legislators say.

The Ontario Trucking Association is asking CBP for a one-month delay in implementing the new Municipal Solid Waste policy review.

At the time the Homeland Security report was published, OTA urged Canadian politicians to step up.

“While this resolution may be targeted at solid waste, the rationale and arguments used to justify it could be just as easily applied to any and all other commodities that Canada exports to the United States,” OTA President David Bradley wrote to Industry and Trade Minister David Emerson. Not only would this impede the lawful shipment of municipal trash to the U.S. but it could also set a dangerous precedent for similar action against other Canadian commodities at some point in the future.”

— with files from Associate Press