Community identified characteristics related to illegal dumping; a mixed methods study to inform prevention

Bernadette C Hohl; Michelle C Kondo; Laney A Rupp; Richard C Sadler; Catherine H Gong; Kai Le; Melissa Hertlein; Christina Kelly; Marc A Zimmerman

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118930

Community identified characteristics related to illegal dumping; a mixed methods study to inform prevention

J Environ Manage. 2023 Nov 15:346:118930. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118930. Epub 2023 Sep 18.

Authors

Bernadette C Hohl¹, Michelle C Kondo², Laney A Rupp³, Richard C Sadler⁴, Catherine H Gong⁵, Kai Le⁶, Melissa Hertlein⁷, Christina Kelly⁸, Marc A Zimmerman⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Penn Injury Science Center, University of Pennsylvania, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA. Electronic address: bernadette.hohl@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
² USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Philadelphia Field Station, 100 N. 20th St, Ste 205, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA. Electronic address: michelleckondo@fs.fed.us.
³ Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: laneyr@umich.edu.
⁴ Department of Public Health, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, 200 East 1st St., Flint, MI, 48502, USA. Electronic address: sadlerr@msu.edu.
⁵ Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: gongca@umich.edu.
⁶ Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: kylahl@umich.edu.
⁷ Genesee County Land Bank Authority, 452 S. Saginaw Street, 2nd Floor, Flint, Michigan, 48502, USA. Electronic address: mhertlein@thelandbank.org.
⁸ Genesee County Land Bank Authority, 452 S. Saginaw Street, 2nd Floor, Flint, Michigan, 48502, USA. Electronic address: ckelly@thelandbank.org.
⁹ Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: marcz@umich.edu.

PMID: 37729835
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118930

Abstract

Illegal dumping is a public health burden for communities suffering from historical disinvestment. We conducted a mixed methods study to answer: 1) What are stakeholder perspectives on social/environmental determinants of illegal dumping? and 2) Do these or other characteristics predict known locations of illegal dumping? We employed an exploratory sequential design in which we collected and analyzed in-depth interviews (n=12) with service providers and residents and subsequently collected and analyzed data from multiple secondary sources. Stakeholders endorsed nine determinants of illegal dumping: Economic Decline, Scale of Vacancy, Lack of Monitoring, Poor Visibility, Physical Disorder, Illegal Activity, Norms, Accessibility, and Seclusion. Results demonstrate important community-identified, modifiable, social, and environmental characteristics related to illegal dumping with the potential to inform effective prevention.

Keywords: Community engagement; Illegal dumping; Vacant land.