8.7.6: Waste Management and Other Environmental Hazards
Finally, a big question for many cities and towns is what to do with the garbage generated by residents and industries. Up until 50 years ago, waste was still being dumped into open-trash heaps, oceans, lakes, and rivers, or incinerated - which releases toxic chemicals into the air (one of the sources of air pollution, above). After several environmental protection laws were passed in the 70’s, most trash disposal converted to sanitary landfills. These landfills are lined with plastic, with vents created for the hazardous gasses that disintegrating trash produces (Schneider, 2020). Land that is less populated and cheaper tends to be the target for landfill sites. Yet, many of these landfills are also near poor, rural, and minoritized communities. Perhaps this is because many of these communities are assumed to be less likely to protest, or perhaps because these areas are promised job opportunities and community investment (L. D. Burke & Weill, 2023).
There is ample evidence that living near environmental hazards such as nuclear power plants, hazardous waste sites, cropland where pesticides are heavily used, and areas with high air and noise pollution (such as major highways and freeways), have negative impacts on the health of children and adults. These include a higher risk of low birth weight, preterm births and some congenital health defects for infants, childhood cancers, and asthma, pulmonary diseases, renal disease, and diabetes among others. Environmental risks such as these also disproportionately impact poor and minoritized groups (Brender et al., 2011, Environmental Conditions - Healthy People 2030 , n.d.)