Cross-Cultural Assessments and Stakeholder Consultancy towards Resource Waste Reduction and Climate Change Prevention

Concerns are growing across the board about the increasing resource demand by society and the poor way in which society has been dealing with waste and recovery of natural resources.It is clear that the time of what seemed to be abundant and cheap natural resources is coming to an end with the growing needs of a ever increasing global population combined with concerns about the security of supply of many essential materials, energy and products.At the same time, there is a rise in interest in understanding coming from different stakeholder groups in the sustainable management of natural resources and protection of the environment, linked with civil society's concerns about the continuing and growing practise of landfilling.Concerns voiced by stakeholders and the disappointing track record of waste management decisions is now so pressing that it is inconceivable to adopt new technologies without closely involving stakeholders at each stage and each level and assess social acceptance levels.Extraction and reuse of waste sourced biomass, after initial treatment in MBT plants, as a renewable biomass fuel could provide one possible route to compliance to landfill reduction.However how can we know what the acceptance levels are to one proposed technological solution across different EU countries?In this study different stakeholders are identified and contacted in the 3 chosen countries of Germany, UK and Greece in order to carry out a common cross-cultural assessment of acceptance levels to a boosted recycling process to recover a renewable biomass fuel, and to show what the obstacles and opportunities are to an appropriate and environmentally sound decision-making process for better governance in sustainable solid waste management.All in all, a project or proposal might be technically feasible and environmentally sound, but might not be accepted by stakeholders for a set of reasons that have nothing to do with technicalities or environmental constraints.The problem is not to identify the most efficient technical solution from an engineering or economic point of view, but instead the solution that is most appropriate and acceptable in the local context where it should be applied.The countries studies have shown that there are similar concerns between local authority decision makers regarding MSW; however show vastly different psychological interests and concerns within the general public.This shows that there are no optimum "one-size fits all" solutions, and it is simply not easy to transpose one successfully demonstrated technology from one country to another.Any study that bases its analysis on technology choice, LCA or even advance multi-criteria analyses without socio-psychological analyses will not present an accurate picture of stakeholder acceptability.The acceptability and chances for successful implementation based on new technologies rely on a multiplicity of complex factors such as social acceptance, political climate, level of infrastructures, investment opportunities, including the state of play in the waste management systems already in place.The results obtained in the cross cultural studies have highlighted the stark differences between the countries under study, in spite of common EU legislation, and in readiness to take up new technologies, and certainly brought other important psychological issues to light.