A GUIDEBOOK FOR EFFECTIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT SITES FOR OUR SOLID WASTE iii PREFACE

The conflict over solid waste management continues to escalate in many parts of the country and is likely to be a pressing public policy issue throughout the 1990’s. Even with increased source reduction, recycling, and comporting, new waste disposal facilities will be needed to manage our growing waste stream. Finding new sites, however, promises to be extraordinarily difficult. Much attention has been paid to the so-called NIMBY (not in my backyard) syndrome, which portrays local residents as emotional opponents of new sites while often ignoring the complexity of the underlying issues. The intense political conflict in local communities centers on important questions of the appropriate use of technology, acceptable levels of risk, and the distribution of decision-making power in a democratic society. The challenge faced by public officials is to find sites that are both technically sound and socially acceptable. A key to recent succes