Cans, bulky items… Why is there more litter near public housing projects in Albany? It’s not a matter of incivility, explain sociologists, but of structural inequalities and inadequate public waste management policies.
Sociologists are interested in the logic of social and environmental domination, analyzing how the working classes are exposed to both environmental degradation and public policies that make them feel guilty when it comes to junk disposal.
In a recent study, they analyzed the accumulation of waste (cans, garbage bags, bulky items, etc.) around three public housing projects in the Albany area. They analysed how city halls implement environmental awareness measures that focus on changing individual behaviors and thus obscure the structural causes of the situation: reduced garbage collection, high population density, etc. Injunctions to combat throwing garbage out of windows, for example, reinforce a form of social control that they describes as greened, while fueling neighborhood conflicts.
What led them to take an interest in the accumulation of waste in public housing
During their investigations in public housing in New York State, the issue of waste came up again and again. As soon as tenants mentioned environmental issues, they complained about the accumulation of waste at the foot of their buildings.
Their speeches expressed suffering related to this deterioration of their living environment. At the same time, institutional leaders within social housing and municipal authorities also mentioned this problem, but from a different angle: that of incivility. These contradictory discourses suggested that something else was at play through this issue of waste.
Why do they describe this situation as environmental suffering
It may seem obvious, but the suffering associated with living surrounded by waste is not always recognized as such, particularly by institutions. The accumulation of waste at the foot of buildings has multiple effects on quality of life. It is degrading and unpleasant to experience. Symbolically, it can generate a feeling of shame: residents told me that they no longer dared to invite friends over because of the state of the place.
Litter can also make common areas unusable. Parents told them they closely supervise their children to prevent them from touching dangerous objects. Finally, there is a health risk: waste can spread pollutants into the soil, breed pests such as rats and certain insects, or carry microbes. It’s a slow violence, to borrow an expression from American researcher Rob Nixon, quietly wreaking havoc on the bodies and lives of those affected by this situation.
What structural mechanisms explain this accumulation of waste in working-class neighborhoods
There are several causes.
First, population density plays a significant role. In working-class neighborhoods, buildings are often taller and more densely populated, which increases the likelihood that waste will be carried away, forgotten, or lost in common areas.
Furthermore, residents of these neighborhoods often pursue leisure activities at home or in the immediate vicinity, increasing human presence and therefore waste. Furthermore, their limited access to transportation including dumpster rental services makes it difficult to dispose of bulky items to recycling centers.
There are also external actors, such as businesses or individuals from neighboring neighborhoods, who take advantage of the situation to illegally dump their own waste near public housing.
