| 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 health, environmental justice, solid waste. Environ Health Perspect 115:1344–1350 (2007) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10161 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 9 July 2007]
Address correspondence to J.M. Norton, Bureau of Epidemiology Services, NYC Dept of Health & Mental Hygiene, 125 Worth St., Room 315, CN-6, New York, NY 10013 USA. Telephone: (212) 788-5382. E-mail: jnorton1@health.nyc.gov This research was supported by a grant from the JB duPont Fund. Additional support was provided by grant R25-ES08206 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences under the Environmental Justice: Partnerships of Communication program. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 11 February 2007 ; accepted 6 July 2007.
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