Incineration and environmental justice : the case of communities around Connecticut resource recovery facilities

The current depleting landfill capacity in Connecticut means that resource recovery facilities will be relied on heavily to meet the States' waste disposal needs. This heavy reliance on these facilities will place greater burdens on the host communities of these waste facilities. Therefore it is important to examine the citing of these facilities to determine if these sitings unfairly targeted a particular segment of the population. To determine if siting has been unjust in Connecticut, this study uses a geographic information system (GIS) to analyze demographic data surrounding each facility in a comparison of demographic data from 1990 and 2000 was preformed to determine if sitings targeted minorities, low income communities, or predominantly rental communities. Results indicate that resource recovery facilities were located in predominantly rental communities. Rental communities were examined as a proxy for income level, due to the absence of census tract income data.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Environmental Policy Studies - (M.S.)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Chemistry and Environmental Science

Year

2004

Author dc:creator

• Bilheimer, Michael A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Maurie J. Cohen
• Zeyuan Qiu
• Porchiung B. Chou

• Landfill capacity
• Resource recovery
• Sustainability

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/543

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.njit.edu:theses-1542