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.