Distant environmental justice: Red mud and hazardous waste in Hungary

Red mud, a bauxite residue from alumina production, is frequently linked to environmental and health concerns. In sites where it is mismanaged, questions of environmental justice typically revolve around how marginalised communities grapple with the enduring presence of industrial waste. We conducted collaborative research in an interdisciplinary team of two anthropologists, one environmental scientist and one investigative journalist in Almásfüzitő, northwest Hungary. Almásfüzitő is home to several red mud reservoirs, the largest of which, at the time of research, was used to dispose of and dilute waste. We conceptualise the environmental justices and injustices faced in Almásfüzitő as both spatially and temporally ‘distant’. The divided settlement distances the residents of upper Almásfüzitő from the reservoir, which is located in the lower part of the settlement, but not from the financial rewards for hosting it; the structural violence emerging from the toxicity of the red mud and the hazardous wastes seems distant from the everyday life of many locals; protests by external environmentalists are seemingly outside residents’ immediate concerns; and EU regulatory actions are removed from corrupted Hungarian state–industry interactions.