Approaches to assess, evaluate and ensure social compatibility within public waste management

New strategies and solutions for integrated resources management, both technological and non-technological, will not only influence the ecological and the economic environment, but also the social environment. If the potential social impacts of such strategies and solutions are ignored, their successful implementation may be prevented by a lack of general public acceptance. It is both sensible and necessary to assess and evaluate the social aspects relative to any given project, in as much as this approach would best serve the public interest. All involved stakeholder groups should undertake their own social compatibility analyses. We therefore offer the implementation oriented tool called "Social Compatibility Analysis (SCA)", which we are developing within the IP Waste outphasing of the Swiss Priority Programme Environment. Adequately informing the public and involving them in the decision-making process are identified as the most important factors concerning the social compatibility of a waste treatment plant. An appropriate mean of ensuring this social compatibility is regarded to be the public acceptance dialogue in the sense of a participatory process. The requisites for successful public involvement and the measures for improving public acceptance of a waste management project are presented