Environmental Justice:
An important challenge today in the field of waste management is environmental justice. Environmental justice can be defined as “fair treatment for people of all races, cultures, and incomes, regarding the development of environmental laws, regulations, policies (US EPA). Minority population and low income population bear a disproportionate amount of adverse health and environmental effects.
Environmental justice and the right to a clean environment are related to the location of facilities. Today, it is very difficult to find a location for a new waste treatment plant. Citizen groups are established to demonstrate against attempts to locate a facility in their neighbourhood. Those demonstrations and public opposition are often sufficiently strong to force the planners to make changes to the project. But successful opposition depends upon the capacity, time, number and competence of the complainants to pursue their interests.
One would tend to draw to a conclusion that higher income population are in a better position to mobilise the effort needed to participate actively in the public debate on the location of sites for waste facilities. In developing countries the lack of efficient waste planning, communication channels and site permission procedures and above all, more basic preoccupations may further increase the problem.
Occupational Health:
Occupational health is another social issue in context of sustainable development, which must be given sufficient attention. There is a risk of replacing a outside environmental problem by an internal environmental problem. The well documented traditional accidents and risks for waste collectors are replaced by new health ricks. Technical solution and changes in working routines have been introduced to reduce the risk of sharp and cutting waste and accidents connected to heavy lifting. But the changes in the waste management chain that were made to obtain sustainable waste management have not sufficiently taken into account the issue of occupational health.
The collection of a biodegradable fraction and its impact on the health of the waste collectors, for example, has not been sufficiently investigated. Another example is the working conditions at sorting plants, where for the whole or parts of the sorting process, manual sorting takes place. This problem is especially difficult as sorting facilities that receive household hazardous waste in dispersed quantities and often without proper labelling or indication of content.
A number of measures have been taken to minimize the risks and unpleasant working conditions, but the fact is that the effects on human health have not been sufficiently investigated. This issues is also directly related to the concept of environmental justice, as most of the jobs referred to above are low qualified and low paid jobs.
An important challenge today in the field of waste management is environmental justice. Environmental justice can be defined as “fair treatment for people of all races, cultures, and incomes, regarding the development of environmental laws, regulations, policies (US EPA). Minority population and low income population bear a disproportionate amount of adverse health and environmental effects.
Environmental justice and the right to a clean environment are related to the location of facilities. Today, it is very difficult to find a location for a new waste treatment plant. Citizen groups are established to demonstrate against attempts to locate a facility in their neighbourhood. Those demonstrations and public opposition are often sufficiently strong to force the planners to make changes to the project. But successful opposition depends upon the capacity, time, number and competence of the complainants to pursue their interests.
One would tend to draw to a conclusion that higher income population are in a better position to mobilise the effort needed to participate actively in the public debate on the location of sites for waste facilities. In developing countries the lack of efficient waste planning, communication channels and site permission procedures and above all, more basic preoccupations may further increase the problem.
Occupational Health:
Occupational health is another social issue in context of sustainable development, which must be given sufficient attention. There is a risk of replacing a outside environmental problem by an internal environmental problem. The well documented traditional accidents and risks for waste collectors are replaced by new health ricks. Technical solution and changes in working routines have been introduced to reduce the risk of sharp and cutting waste and accidents connected to heavy lifting. But the changes in the waste management chain that were made to obtain sustainable waste management have not sufficiently taken into account the issue of occupational health.
The collection of a biodegradable fraction and its impact on the health of the waste collectors, for example, has not been sufficiently investigated. Another example is the working conditions at sorting plants, where for the whole or parts of the sorting process, manual sorting takes place. This problem is especially difficult as sorting facilities that receive household hazardous waste in dispersed quantities and often without proper labelling or indication of content.
A number of measures have been taken to minimize the risks and unpleasant working conditions, but the fact is that the effects on human health have not been sufficiently investigated. This issues is also directly related to the concept of environmental justice, as most of the jobs referred to above are low qualified and low paid jobs.
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