Cite as: 504 U. S. 353 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
publicly owned facilities. The case involves only the validity of the Waste Import Restrictions as they apply to privately owned and operated landfills.
On the other hand, Philadelphia v. New Jersey provides the framework for our analysis of this case. Solid waste, even if it has no value, is an article of commerce.3 437 U. S., at 622-623. Whether the business arrangements between out-of-state generators of waste and the Michigan operator of a waste disposal site are viewed as "sales" of garbage or "purchases" of transportation and disposal services, the commercial transactions unquestionably have an interstate character. The Commerce Clause thus imposes some constraints on Michigan's ability to regulate these transactions.
As we have long recognized, the "negative" or "dormant" aspect of the Commerce Clause prohibits States from "advanc[ing] their own commercial interests by curtailing the movement of articles of commerce, either into or out of the state." H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc. v. Du Mond, 336 U. S. 525, 535 (1949). A state statute that clearly discriminates against interstate commerce is therefore unconstitutional "unless the discrimination is demonstrably justified by a valid factor unrelated to economic protectionism." New Energy Co. of Ind. v. Limbach, 486 U. S. 269, 274 (1988).
3 As we explained in Philadelphia v. New Jersey: "All objects of interstate trade merit Commerce Clause protection; none is excluded by definition at the outset. In Bowman [v. Chicago & Northwestern R. Co., 125 U. S. 465 (1888),] and similar cases, the Court held simply that because the articles' worth in interstate commerce was far outweighed by the dangers inhering in their very movement, States could prohibit their transportation across state lines. Hence, we reject the state court's suggestion that the banning of 'valueless' out-of-state wastes by ch. 363 implicates no constitutional protection. Just as Congress has power to regulate the interstate movement of these wastes, States are not free from constitutional scrutiny when they restrict that movement. Cf. Hughes v. Alexandria Scrap Corp., 426 U. S. 794, 802-814; Meat Drivers v. United States, 371 U. S. 94." 437 U. S., at 622-623.
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