Waste is by law considered a commodity of interstate commerce and as such can’t be banned or limited from one state to another. It was the City of Philadelphia that went to court to establish this principle in 1978, at a time when Philadelphia trash was exported to New Jersey landfills.
This movement of trash across state borders has been a matter of public debate and controversy from time to time, but the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution prevents states or local governments from banning or placing special burdens on out-of-state waste. The U.S. Supreme Court also has ruled that state laws that direct where waste should be disposed of violate the Commerce Clause.
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