Program on the Environment

Solid waste is an issue commonly experienced throughout the United States, but with Alaska Native Villages’ unique rural situation, dealing with solid waste is a monstrous challenge that requires more attention and different solutions. The existence of unregulated landfills causes health issues such as water and subsistence contamination and air pollution (improper waste burning), but there is currently a lack of infrastructure to manage these landfills and maintain a sustainable solid waste system. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the complexities behind this and identify solutions to assist these native villages while discovering the roots of this issue. To accomplish this task, I evaluated EPA Environmental Tribal Plans (ETEPs) to understand what the challenges around solid waste in the villages were and identify the possible solutions stated by the tribes. Along with that, I interviewed 15 contacts to fill in any details not addressed in the ETEPs. What I found was that ANVs have small economies of scale and are not located next to a road system, making it difficult to have the same waste management systems that the lower 48 states have, resulting in a constant need for funding, technical assistance, and public outreach. Also, I discovered that there are larger influences that create these waste problems that disproportionately affect Alaska Native Villages such as corporate consumerism and complicated relationships between western and tribal cultures. ANV’s have no choice but to deal with these issues, yet don’t have the capacity to, labeling this as an environmental injustice.