Environmental Injustice: Essay Sample on the Carleton Farms Landfill

Carleton Farms landfill is located in Michigan. It has an area of 664 acres. The waste dumped at the site is mostly solids forming a mountain. The waste landfill is managed by Republic Services Inc., which is one of the leading waste companies in the United States (Urban Garbage: Landfill or Recycle, 2000). The landfill has a history of accepting waste from different counties in the state of Michigan and at a point accepted waste from the city of Toronto. Because of its location, the landfill also receives waste from other states such Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio (Anders, 2014). The high volume of waste received at the site over the period of its operation makes it a good case study to find out its effects on the environment and the community living nearby.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Carleton Farms landfill, Michigan was located in its present place because of several reasons favoring landfill as compared to neighboring regions. First, the land is located in a central place that allows adjacent areas to dump their waste. Michigan State is almost at the center of the great lake region. Hence, it has established large landfills near its boarders as possible. Carleton Farms being in the state, it was created as a consequence. Carleton Farms has a lot of air space hence creating a favorable landfill site. Carleton Farm landfill site is covered with clay soil, and its fracture bedrock is not shared with the most neighboring regions hence a convenient location site (Urban Garbage: Landfill or Recycle, 2000).

The landfill has been a source of pollution to the environment for a long time in different ways. The landfill has been causing pollution of water, sound, air, and soil (Ballingall, 2016). Carleton Farms Landfill has decomposing substances that produce smelly gases making the environment unconducive for habitation. Some of the gases produced cause greenhouse effect such as methane. Methane is very powerful in creating a greenhouse effect. The site is also full of noise pollution caused by vehicles transporting waste to the landfill and tractors turning the waste. Dust is also raised as a result polluting the air. On the nearby roads where the vehicles pass as they transport the waste to the site, there are pieces of smelly wastes that drop. The landfill has caused contamination of the water that runs from it to the neighboring lands. It has also led to contamination of the underground water that has collected in the underneath rock. Chemicals that are in the waste products pollute the soil and make it poor for plants growth and food crop.

The communities nearby the landfill have suffered a lot. They inhale the odor from the landfill and find the environment unpleasant (Beaumont, 2012). Sometimes, human waste is dumped in the landfill making the situation worse for the community especially when it starts to re-emerge on the surface. Illnesses are affecting the nearby inhabitants that one can associate with the landfill, for example, asthma. They experience frequent traffic jams caused by many tracks coming to the site to dump waste. The continuous nuisance from the landfill has force people in the community to engage in lawsuits looking for ways of banning the dumping of waste at Carleton Farms landfill (Beaumont, 2012). The landfill has led to the migration of some local community members in fear of the effects associated with landfills such as lung issues caused by heavy metals. There was fear General Motors and Ford dumped wastes with heavy metals in the landfill.

References

Anders, M. (2014). More Canadian Trash Dumped in Michigan Landfills; See Who Else Sends Trash Here.Mlive. Retrieved from <http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/02/michigan_landfill_waste_grew_l.html>

Ballingall, A. (2016). Dont Blame Canada for Flints Water Crisis, Experts Say. The Star. Retrieved from <https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/02/25/no-reason-to-blame-canadas-garbage-for-flint-crisis-experts-say.html>

Beaumont, F. (2012). Landfills are Effectively Dealing with Trash Issues. The News Herald. Retrieved from <http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2012/06/06/opinion/doc4fccdee49097a984540372.txt?viewmode=fullstory>

Urban Garbage: Landfill or Recycle?. (2000) (1st ed., pp. 1-20). Retrieved from <https://media.curio.ca/filer_public/b4/34/b4349e13-58c2-4664-949c-e683e01788f3/garbage.pdf>