Cities nationwide have canceled recycling programs, and more could follow in Michigan.

Toronto-based GFL Environmental, the largest waste hauler in Southeast Michigan with contracts in 65 communities across the state, recently sent letters telling local governments they’d need to pay significantly more to continue recycling services.

“The market has collapsed,” said Joe Munem, a spokesman for GFL. “It’s not that it’s collapsing or thinking of collapsing. It has collapsed.”

‘Wrong end of the stick’

The market turmoil comes after years of efforts to improve recycling in Michigan, which is home to cheap landfills and recycles 15 percent of its waste. That’s the lowest in the Great Lakes region and well below the national average of nearly 35 percent, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

On his way out of office late last year, former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder cut a budget deal to give local recycling efforts another $15 million a year. But those efforts may be offset by global economic pressures.

Some communities are suffering more than others.

Those that belong to regional recycling efforts or have longer-term contracts can weather the storm, but those on short-term contracts are at the mercy of private recyclers, said Mike Garfield, executive director of the Ann Arbor-based Ecology Center, a nonprofit that has advised communities on recycling plans.

“The cities have gotten the wrong end of the stick on this issue, unless they stood up for themselves previously,” Garfield said. “The recycling processors have made money when markets were good, and now they’re passing on their costs 100 percent.”

That’s what’s happening in Westland, which had paid $18 per ton to truck the city’s recyclables 15 miles south to ReCommunity’s facility in New Boston. The company was recently purchased by waste juggernaut Republic Services, which makes more profit by hauling trash to landfills and did not respond to messages from Bridge.

In February, Wild learned company was increasing Westland’s prices to $80 per ton on its month-to-month contract. That would cost the city at least $310,000 more per year, eating into the city’s $65 million budget.