Race, Wealth, and Solid Waste Facilities in North Carolina
Jennifer M. Norton,1 Steve Wing,1 Hester J. Lipscomb,2 Jay S.
Kaufman,1 Stephen W. Marshall,1 and Altha J. Cravey3
1Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; 2Division of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, Department of Community and Family Medicine,
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA;
3Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Abstract
Background: Concern has been expressed in North Carolina that solid
waste facilities may be disproportionately located in poor communities
and in communities of color, that this represents an environmental
injustice, and that solid waste facilities negatively impact the
health of host communities.
Objective: Our goal in this study was to conduct a statewide analysis
of the location of solid waste facilities in relation to community
race and wealth.
Methods: We used census block groups to obtain racial and economic
characteristics, and information on solid waste facilities was
abstracted from solid waste facility permit records. We used logistic
regression to compute prevalence odds ratios for 2003, and Cox
regression to compute hazard ratios of facilities issued permits
between 1990 and 2003.
Results: The adjusted prevalence odds of a solid waste facility was
2.8 times greater in block groups with ≥ 50% people of color compared
with block groups with < 10% people of color, and 1.5 times greater in
block groups with median house values < $60,000 compared with block
groups with median house values ≥ $100,000. Among block groups that
did not have a previously permitted solid waste facility, the adjusted
hazard of a new permitted facility was 2.7 times higher in block
groups with ≥ 50% people of color compared with block groups with <
10% people of color.
Conclusion: Solid waste facilities present numerous public health
concerns. In North Carolina solid waste facilities are
disproportionately located in communities of color and low wealth. In
the absence of action to promote environmental justice, the continued
need for new facilities could exacerbate this environmental injustice.
(Key words: environmental)
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