Impacts of illegal dumping in East Palo Alto: an environmental justice perspective

While it is well documented that illegal dumping of trash causes significant environmental impacts on land, water and air. It can also contribute to poor health in local communities where it occurs. Because illegal dumping is often concentrated in low-income communities and communities of color, it is an environmental injustice. Research on environmental justice and illegal dumping of solid waste has been widely studied separately. However, there are limited studies linking environmental justice and illegal dumping of solid waste. To explore if low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately burdened with illegal dumping, a case study was conducted in the City of East Palo Alto. Data was collected from interviews and textual analysis of government and public documents was conducted. Results indicate that current policies to address the illegal dumping of municipal solid waste are inadequate, do not decrease incidences of illegal dumping, and persecutes the burdened community. East Palo Alto needs to strengthen community engagement, increase education about illegal dumping, and implement opportunity reduction strategies to reduce illegal dumping. Awareness gained from the case study of East Palo Alto will help other municipalities understand the complexities of mitigating illegal dumping.