As Toronto motorists pay record prices for gasoline, the city is also paying record prices to haul its garbage across the border.

The contract the city has to send garbage trucks rumbling along Highway 401 and down to Michigan includes a clause based on escalating fuel costs.

When gas cost $1.05 a litre, each load of garbage cost Toronto about $50. But with pump prices at almost $1.30 a litre, the bill for each load has almost doubled to $98 a shipment.

If economist predictions are correct and gas hits $1.50 a litre this summer, the city could end up paying a whopping $136 a load to unload its waste.

In the first few months of this year, it has already cost Toronto $600,000 more to dump in Michigan compared to last year.

But Coun. Glenn De Baeremaeker, the Public Works committee chairman, points out that the contract with Michigan expires in two years, and the new landfill site near London will be a shorter trek for garbage trucks.

He also says taxpayers won't pay the increased costs because Toronto is making money off its recycling program, selling plastics and recyclables to reprocessor companies.

"At the same time as we are spending half a million dollars extra in fuel costs, the value of our newspapers and plastic bottles that we sell on the market goes up about half a million dollars, so our costs do go up, but our revenues go up as well," he said.

De Baeremaeker adds more residents are recycling than ever before, which has also resulted in fewer trash shipments.

But Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong believes taxpayers will eventually have to cover the cost to ship garbage in the coming years, which is why he says Toronto should stop shipping its waste and think of options closer to home, such as incineration.

De Baeremaeker, however, says incineration would cost the taxpayer much more and the devices are not environmentally friendly.

Toronto has been sending its trash to Michigan since 1998. Between 300 and 400 trucks make the trek each day.

Last year, the city completed the purchase of the Green Lane landfill near St. Thomas, south of London. Five per cent of Toronto's trash is already being sent to Green Lane as Toronto begins shifting away from dumping in Michigan.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness