Q&A: Addressing the Environmental Justice Implications of Waste | Article

Waste, and how it’s managed, has a large impact on communities, particularly communities of color. To get a better understanding of how to equitably address waste, EESI sat down with Denise Patel, U.S. Program Director at the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). GAIA is a worldwide alliance focused on strengthening grassroot social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution and support a global shift toward environmental justice.

Denise Patel Speaking

Denise Patel

Photo Courtesy of Erik McGregor

Q: What are the environmental justice impacts of waste?

Patel: The environmental justice impacts from waste are quite vast. Research shows that 79 percent of municipal solid waste incinerators are located in environmental justice (EJ) communities The majority of landfills and burn facilities, such as medical waste and biomass incinerators, are located near EJ communities.

Generally, the way that we manage waste—or don’t manage waste—has severe health impacts on communities located near incinerators and polluting facilities. Emissions of harmful particulate matter (PM2.5), mercury, and lead from incinerators leads to higher rates of asthma, respiratory disease, and cardiovascular disease. Burning and landfilling waste, particularly organic material, compounds climate emissions from smokestacks and landfills. Water contamination from landfill leaching and runoff impacts local waterways, water sources, and community recreational areas.

Q: Why does waste have disproportionate impacts on EJ communities?

Patel: When it comes to the way our waste management system is set up, we can go back to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (P.L.94-580). This law determines how waste gets managed at a high level and gives authority to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the federal government to deal with hazardous waste. The federal government classifies what is considered hazardous waste. Anything non-hazardous is then managed at the state level. States have their own laws and regulations around how non-hazardous waste is managed, which is then managed at either the county or city level. As you can see, we have a complex web of waste management practices and policies that leads to a lot of finger pointing about who's really responsible for the waste crisis.

The end result is that low-income and Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities are most impacted by waste policies and are often targeted by the waste industry and others as potential sites for building incinerators and landfills. These industries know that these communities lack the ability and capacity to fight back to protect themselves. Policies like redlining have further concentrated polluting facilities, including waste facilities, in EJ and BIPOC communities. These practices have been well documented by EJ scholars, such as Dr. Robert Bullard, over the past decades.

Q: How can we improve waste management to mitigate the disproportionately negative impact that waste has on people of color and low-income communities?

Patel: From a solutions perspective, I think there is an incredible opportunity to allow EJ and BIPOC communities to lead and inform policy. They've been at the forefront for decades, generating solutions to improve health and reduce pollution in their own communities. These communities advocate for zero waste and circular economy solutions at the local level, and they also work to inform policies more broadly so that more initiatives can be built from the ground up. These communities are also working to ensure that the impacts of our current waste disposal practices don’t shift to other communities.

We have heard a lot of talk about environmental justice and the need for infrastructure development from the President, governors, and city leaders. We also know that the COVID pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color. As we look ahead, state and federal governments have a responsibility to invest in and prioritize waste solutions as a part of economic recovery coming out of the pandemic. Reuse initiatives, refill systems, and appropriate recycling systems are all part of the necessary infrastructure to manage waste and address its direct impacts, particularly on EJ communities. These solutions can help rebuild and revitalize EJ communities while pulling them out of both the pandemic and the economic crisis.

Q: How does GAIA work with disproportionately impacted communities to develop zero-waste plans?

Patel: We work with communities to understand what the conditions are on the ground. We collaborate to conduct research and collect relevant data to recommend policy changes. Globally, we connect communities in the United States with communities in Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Europe that are leading on aspects of zero waste. Within the United States, we work to bring together groups that are working on local solutions, whether it be advocating for policies to ban single-use plastics or building out local community and municipal composting programs. We advance the solutions that have worked in some communities and try to apply those solutions in other places. As a network of groups, experts, and researchers, we come together to systemically address the waste problem and work towards a zero-waste and circular economy.

Q: What are some of the main obstacles you have encountered in your work?

Patel: We're up against powerful industries that are fighting efforts to shift to zero waste, particularly ones whose businesses are modeled on having a constant flow of waste into their facilities. We encounter a mix of folks across the political spectrum, from those who agree that zero waste is the solution to those who think that we have to continue to burn our waste. We focus on education, doing research to dig into the impacts of waste policies and systems, and identifying alternative solutions that would enable us to shift to zero waste.

We know that zero-waste solutions lead to healthier and thriving communities. Local economies can be built up through local businesses to help us all avoid unnecessary waste. At the same time, we need to push back against historic narratives that make folks believe that the current system is the only one that's possible. One of the inspiring things about working with communities is that they're able to tell their own stories and talk about the impact that these initiatives have had on them, their health, and their communities. That’s been able to galvanize communities, regulators, and elected officials to imagine the alternative and embrace that framework.

Q: What can local, state, and federal policymakers do to address waste challenges? What is the right balance between federal government support and state and local government initiatives?

Patel: At the federal level, legislators can reform the system in order to enable zero-waste solutions. There are a few bills that are currently up for consideration in Congress that have some great policies and opportunities to address the waste system. One is the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act , which looks to address the plastic waste crisis. Another bill, the Zero Waste Act (H.R.4050), introduced during the previous 116th Congress, would provide essential funding through the EPA and EPA grant system to help local municipal zero-waste systems rebuild.

We're talking a lot about energy policy these days because incinerators can earn clean energy or renewable energy credits. This gives incinerators a lifeline without requiring them to do any additional maintenance or mitigation of harmful pollutants. The policy provides a financial incentive that keeps them going despite these incinerators being neither clean nor renewable. Federal and state legislators can have a big impact by reversing that policy.

On the local and state level, legislators can meet with their constituents, particularly EJ community members, to better understand what the solutions are for their communities. It's not just about stopping the waste coming into the community; it's also about building up local economies and creating good jobs that can enable communities that have been disinvested from to thrive. At the federal, state, and local level, we would love to see legislators take more actions to address waste and infrastructure issues.

Q: What should legislators be particularly aware of when it comes to advancing waste management solutions?

Patel: Chemical recycling is a top concern for us. The idea of turning plastics into fuels is particularly troublesome and is not a viable solution to the plastics crisis. A push, at any level, in support of this idea could enable the entire industry to turn plastic into fuels. Concern over plastic pollution in the ocean has led people to believe this is a viable solution to the plastic waste crisis. Industry has been pushing the idea that it can successfully turn plastic into plastic in a loop. However, our research has found that the technology is not viable at scale and would do little to improve the health of communities while increasing climate emissions from plastic. What we really need to do is to reduce the amount of plastic, particularly single-use plastic, produced in the first place. We want folks to be mindful of that, and we would love to work with anyone interested in addressing that issue.

Interview by: Celine Yang

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.