The Link Between Environmental Justice and Landfills
This StoryMap explores the relationship between marginalized communities and the location of landfills in Massachusetts.
Environmental Justice
Environmental racism is a serious issue in today’s society, subjecting people of color and low-income communities to environmental hazards. From waste dumping to industrial pollutants, minorities face exposure to emissions and toxins more commonly than high-income households. Areas of low property value are easily bought and exploited for industrial use, inciting health effects within nearby communities and keeping the property values low. This creates an endless cycle of environmental injustice within these areas.
Environmental justice calls for fair treatment and involvement of all individuals regardless of race, income, or background with respect to development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental policies. Environmental justice will only be achieved when everyone has the same degree of protection from environmental hazards and has equal access to decision-making process of having a healthy environment to thrive.[1]
In Massachusetts, an area is defined as an Environmental Justice Community if it falls into any of the categories designated by Mass.gov:
- Block group whose annual median household income is equal to or less than 65 percent of the statewide median ($62,072 in 2010); or
- 25% or more of the residents identify as a race other than white; or
- 25% or more of households have no one over the age of 14 who speaks English only or very well - English Isolation [2]
Landfills
Landfills are used for the disposal of solid waste. Dug into the ground, landfills are lined in order to protect the environment from the contaminants within. They are designed, located, and operated with compliance to federal regulations. Landfills are prohibited from being built in environmentally sensitive areas and have on-site monitoring systems.[3] Although these monitoring systems oversee contamination leaks, landfills pose a threat to the environment and human health.
Landfills are a major source of both air and water pollution, leaching toxins into the ground water and releasing harmful gases into the atmosphere. They are a major contributor to the world’s anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, releasing methane and carbon dioxide into the air.[4] Not only that, but landfills are also odorous, loud, dangerous, and host wildlife.
The continuous inhalation of methane can cause health impacts such as loss of coordination, nausea, vomiting, and even death. Other health effects of landfills on humans include reduced lung function, asthma, fatigue, eye irritation, and even cancer. [4]
What is the Problem?
The problem is that landfills are often located near marginalized communities, putting them at higher risk for these health issues. Not only that, but the proximity of these landfills keep the property value of the area low, making it much more difficult to sell and get away from the environmental and health hazard that landfills impose.
Ask Yourself This
How often are environmental justice communities within Massachusetts located near active municipal landfills?
All marginalized communities may not be in close proximity to a landfill, but almost all landfills are in close proximity to a marginalized community.
Data & Analyses
For this analysis, I used ArcMap and different shapefiles to find out how many landfills in Massachusetts are in close proximity to marginalized communities. The first shapefile used in the maps is the Massachusetts census tracts. This layer outlines the different census tracts and will give better insight to this next layer. Home Value and Income has multiple fields, but the ones used in this analysis are 2018 Median Household Income, 2018 Black/African American Non-Hispanic Population, and 2018 White Non-Hispanic Population. Another shapefile used is Environmental Justice Communities, downloaded from the Mass.gov website. And finally, the last piece of data are the landfills within Massachusetts. This was retrieved from the ArcGIS Hub website.
Each layer used for the Home Value and Income shapefile is symbolized as graduated color with a color scale of light blue to dark blue. The 2018 Median Household Income field is symbolized with five classes in natural breaks (jenks) classification.
The 2018 Black/African American Non-Hispanic Population is also broken up into five class, classified though natural breaks (jenks) and is normalized by the 2018 Total Population.
The 2018 White Non-Hispanic Population is classified though natural breaks (jenks) and is normalized by the 2018 Total Population.
The Environmental Justice Communities is similar to the Census Tracts, one single symbol. This shapefile serves as a guide to the Home Value and Income layers. This outlines the designated Environmental Justice Communities in Massachusetts as decided by the state.
As for the landfill layer of the map, the dots represents the active municipal solid waste landfills within Massachusetts. Originally, the data downloaded from the ArcGIS Hub website included transfer stations, but for the purpose of this analysis the select by attribute tool was used to narrow down the focus to municipal and construction/demolition landfills.
Comparison between black and white populations with landfill locations
Median household income with location of landfills
With these shapefiles and datasets, a buffer analysis was conducted. The distance set was 5 miles, giving the buffer rings a 5-mile radius. Once the buffer was complete, the intersect tool was used. After the analysis was done running, the Environmental Justice Communities within the buffer were symbolized in red, now its own layer. What this did was emphasize the Environmental Justice Communities within reach of the buffer. The layers and analyses can be seen in the maps below.
Findings
All municipal solid waste landfills in Massachusetts are within a 5-mile radius of an Environmental Justice Communities except for four. The four landfills not within a 5-mile radius of one of these communities is the Middleborough Landfill, the Hull Landfill, the Angle View Pet Cemetery Landfill, and the Bourne Landfill.
The location of the active municipal solid waste landfills are predominately near areas with a higher population of black residents as compared to areas with white residents. Also, most landfills are located in or near a census tract that is considered lower in median household income.
What Does this Mean?
This means that it is generally areas with higher populations of black residents and areas of lower median household income that are exposed to the hazards that are landfills. Not only that, but areas that are already considered Environmental Justice Communities, regardless of what the census tract information provides, are further marginalized by the proximity of these landfills. While higher income communities and areas with predominately white populations do also reside near landfills, it is not as common. Environmental racism and justice is a serious issue in today’s society, subjecting people of color and low-income communities to environmental and health hazards.
