Environmental racism is the phenomenon where noxious industries are located in communities where people of color are disproportionately impacted. This is a distinct trend with many polluting industries, most notably trash incinerators. The largest and most polluting trash incinerators are almost exclusively in communities of color; additionally, the industry in general disproportionately impacts people of color, especially Black residents.
It is not just because people are poor. Studies have documented that race is more of a factor than class in where trash incinerators and many other noxious industries are located. In New Jersey, Covanta’s trash incinerators in Newark, Camden, and Rahway are located in communities with 75%, 87%, and 79% people of color respectively. All three of these incinerators are in or near communities that the government redlined in the 1930s leading these communities to be saddled with inefficient, polluting incinerators. Communities near incinerators suffer from health problems including “elevated blood levels, asthma, preterm births, and increased cardiovascular disease related morbidity and mortality rates”.
As this analysis shows, trash incinerators in the United States disproportionately impact people of color, and do so from distances ranging from one mile to over 100 miles from the incinerator sites. 80% of the nation’s largest trash incinerators are located in communities where people of color are disproportionately impacted. This racial disparity trend is not true for landfills in the region.
Interested in learning about environmental racism in other regions? Check out the Chester Environmental Partnership.