Municipal waste incineration plants (MWIPs) are a source of emission of diverse pollutants that have been associated with environmental and health effects, mainly in relation to premises that are old and not well equipped or maintained. As a result, the public usually holds a negative view of such plants and tends to react adversely to construction of new plants. Understanding a population's perceptions is key to ensuring the correct development of such infrastructure and adequately managing population health concerns and behaviours. In this study, we surveyed 173 residents living close (≤ 10 km) to an MWIP being built in San Sebastian (Gipuzkoa, Spain) and 164 living further away (>10 km). The questionnaire included sociodemographic and psycho-environmental measures. Answers to the questionnaire revealed a fairly low acceptance rate and the perception of a high risk for human health and the environment (average scores of 0.57, 3.07 and 2.89 respectively in a 0 to 4 scale), with no statistically significant differences between people living nearby and further afield. A hierarchical regression model built to explore the public's acceptance of the MWIP explained 59% of the variance. Dominance and relative weight analyses revealed that the most important predictors of acceptance were trust in the information provided by the local government and perceived risk for human health, which accounted for 33.7% and 27.4% of the variance explained by the model respectively. Preference for landfilling and MWIP acceptance in a farther location made a less relevant contribution.
Keywords: Attitudes; Controversial facilities; Environmental concerns; Social opposition; Waste management.
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