Waste Traffic(ing): An anthropological analysis of one situated event in the environmental justice discourse

Abstract

This narrative examines the repercussions of the proposal to build a solid waste facility in an environmental justice community. It documents one solid waste transfer station s permitting process required by Massachusetts General Laws, Codes of Regulations, and policies and the affiliated government agencies. All of these offices and laws incorporate vehicles for meaningful community involvement, stressing its importance in all three steps of the process. Each chapter documents the incorporation of one impacted environmental justice community s meaningful involvement as the proposed project (solid waste transfer station) goes through the 3-step procedure for determining if the site is suitable for a solid waste facility, recording the events in chronological order as described by the laws, agencies, public record, local media, ethnographic data and observations.