The companies, Allied Waste and Metro Waste, are concerned that they could see other counties and cities follow the lead of Davis and Morgan counties, which have ordinances in place requiring all trash collected in the counties to go to the landfill the two counties share in Layton.

That could make a huge dent in the bottom line of the two companies, which operate their own landfills and rely on the trash flow for their profits.

So, rather than playing Whack-a-Mole and beat back each ordinance as they arise, the companies have pre-emptively asked the Legislature to ensure that they can compete for the right to dispose of commercial waste. Local governments could still manage residential trash at their discretion.

"In the trash business, it's all about money and control," said John Ioannou, executive director of the Salt Lake Valley Waste Facility. "In the old days, in the Western days, he who controls the water, controls the money. Today, when it comes to trash, he who controls the waste, controls the [money]."

Sen. Dan Eastman, R-Bountiful, plans to unveil legislation next month that would keep local governments from cornering the market on commercial waste.

"I don't think government ought to be doing that," Eastman said. "I'm very pro-business, and I think that anything the private sector can do, the local government or state government should not do."

Commercial waste makes up an estimated 40 percent of the trash volume in the state. Paul Rogers, a lobbyist for Allied Waste and former state senator, told legislators recently that commercial waste is the core business for the private haulers.

There is not a broad push for ordinances limiting commercial waste flow. But five northern Utah counties - Davis, Morgan, Weber, Box Elder and Cache - are looking at the possibility of joining forces to open a new landfill, probably in Box Elder County. They have formed the Northern Utah Regional Landfill Authority, which might be the cause for concern, said Nathan Rich, executive director of the Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District in Layton, which now serves Davis and Morgan counties.

Weber County contracts to dispose of the county's waste at Allied's landfill in Tooele County.

Rich said Davis and Morgan counties put ordinances in place 20 years ago requiring waste to be brought to the regional landfill and burn plant to guarantee the facilities had enough volume - and therefore made enough money - to pay off the bonds to build them. Those bonds are paid off, but the district still has to keep its volume up, Rich said, because it burns trash at its burn plant to generate electricity and produce steam that it delivers to Hill Air Force Base.

"If we do lose tonnage, we won't be able to keep our prices the same," he said. "If we start losing waste, we would either have to cut services or raise rates because our system is designed to handle a certain size waste stream."

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an ordinance adopted in upstate New York, similar to the one passed by Davis County requiring that waste be disposed of at a government-run landfill, was constitutional.

In the Salt Lake Valley, at least, the volume of waste flowing to its landfill has been steadily declining, according to records obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune through an open records request. The decline is largely due to competition from the private landfills, said Ioannou, the landfill's director.

In 2000, the Salt Lake Valley Solid Waste Management Facility accepted nearly 1.4 million tons of trash. Last year, the landfill took in less than 879,000 tons.

Allied lobbyist Rogers said making businesses compete for the commercial waste will mean the best service and best price for clients. If a private hauler charges too much, they will lose the contract, he says. But if municipalities, through fiat, monopolize commercial waste disposal, there is no pressure to control fees.

Rich of the Waste Management District in Layton sees it differently. He said his district has been offering services, such as recycling, to its residents because the ordinance in the counties has helped maintain the waste flow. He said the private companies are trying to pluck the commercial accounts, which are the "low-cost, high-margin services," fattening their bottom lines while not having to provide recycling and other services that municipalities provide.

Lincoln Shurtz of the Utah League of Cities and Towns said he is not aware of counties, other than Davis and Morgan, passing ordinances to limit disposal of commercial waste.

Generally, he said, counties favor competition in their commercial trash collections.

Allied Waste operates two private landfills, one on Utah school trusts lands in Tooele County and another in Carbon County. Metro Waste operates a landfill on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation.

Allied acquired its Tooele landfill when it purchased the Wasatch Regional Solid Waste Management Corp., an entity approved by the Utah Legislature in 2005 at the urging of well-connected lobbyists and former legislators.

Rep. Mel Brown, R-Coalville, and Rep. Kevin Garn, R-Layton, have a financial stake in the Allied Waste landfill, and Senate Majority Leader Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, has recently done consulting work for the company and spent the last week in Italy with Rogers on a social trip.