by Steph Ware
Ten miles north of Boston, Saugus is a community clouded in smoke from thousands of tons of trash burned daily at the Wheelabrator Ash Landfill. Community members and activists have fought for years to remove the trash incinerator that lies near numerous residential neighborhoods in the city.
Stories from Saugus
Many residents of the city like Loretta LaCentra worry how the facility affects the health of their loved ones and other community members in the area. Her husband was diagnosed at age 42 with a type of cancer that occurs on average at 64 years for most patients. She suspects that the Wheelabrator facility is the root of the health issues she’s seen in her neighborhood, which is less than a mile from the trash incinerator.
Her suspicions are likely true—many experts believe that trash burning can lead to health problems such as lung cancer.
What is a trash incinerator and how does it affect surrounding communities?
Waste burning produces and releases air pollutants into the nearby area. Communities with trash incinerators face health burdens like cancer from constant exposure to toxic chemicals and pollutants.
“Ash is blowing around, it’s definitely getting wet and going into the marsh and it’s definitely getting into people’s lungs,” Kirstie Pecci, director of the Zero Waste Project at the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), told the Boston Globe.
Environmental justice communities are typically the first to be affected by environmental hazards like poor air quality among other factors. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts classifies Saugus as an environmental justice community due to factors like income and the minority population. Communities like Saugus are typically the first to be considered for landfills and trash incinerator placement.
A rendering of the landfill in Saugus, created from multiple aerial photos stitched together. Credit: Final rendering by Jeff Warren, Grassrootmapping and PLOTS, 2011. Photos by Jeff and members and volunteers of Trans Trash, 2011
The ongoing legal battle against WIN waste
Community activists in Saugus have fought for decades to remove the trash incinerator from their community. WIN waste, formerly known as Wheelabrator, has been there to stay due to years of concessions from lawmakers and other people in power.
“Saugus has never won a lawsuit against Wheelabrator. Wheelabrator has continued to operate and get basically whatever they want from the DEP,” Chairman Anthony Cogliano of the town’s Board of Selectmen told WBUR.
This sentiment is what has kept Wheelabrator burning in Saugus.
What comes next?
Though the state eventually denied Wheelabrator’s request to expand into a nearby marsh, it looks like the trash-burning plant won’t be leaving anytime soon. Appeal after appeal from environmental activists and organizations like the CLF have been ignored by the Commonwealth.
What does this mean for the fight for environmental justice? First, we can more efficiently dispose of our waste by recycling, buying fewer products we don’t need, and supporting the fight of those on the North Shore. Second, we need to get involved with grassroots organizations at the forefront of environmental justice.