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Within the circular economy framework in Africa, sustainable waste management can contribute to improving the environment and creating green jobs. However, recycling activities are mostly carried out by informal workers, who are often forgotten in discussions about the circular economy. To ensure the development of a socially just circular economy, their voices must be heard and their needs accounted for. This study took place in Rwanda, a circular economy leader in Africa, and explored the experiences of workers engaged in biowaste recycling, with a particular focus on the distinctions between the experiences of female and male workers. We used photovoice as a methodology, allowing waste workers to visually report on the benefits and drawbacks of being involved in biowaste recycling. Seventeen waste recyclers took pictures representing different working experiences, which was followed by individual in-depth interviews to elicit the meaning behind each picture. Data analysis consisted of a reflexive thematic content analysis of interview transcripts and a participatory data analysis with the workers. The results show that the workers valued their jobs for their social relations at work, being responsible for a task, being productive, and generating savings. Workers negatively highlighted the health risks associated with waste sorting, difficult working conditions, and low salaries. We found gendered differences in workers' marital status and access to paid work opportunities. Although working in waste recycling encompasses occupational risks, this photovoice study highlights that access to work improves workers' relative well-being and that this type of circular economy can help create meaningful jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure projects such as repositories for nuclear waste or hazardous waste sites impose risks (in the form of potential burdens or losses) over extensive timescales. These risks change dynamically over time and so, potentially, does their management. Societies and key actors go through learning processes and subsequently may be better able to deal with related challenges. However, social scientific research on the acceptance of such projects is mainly concerned with (static) risk perception issues and does not include dynamic aspects. Adaptive capacity, which is part of the concept of vulnerability, therefore represents a promising complementing facet for this line of research. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of perceived adaptive capacity (PAC) for the acceptance of contested long-term infrastructure for the two issues of nuclear and hazardous waste. In an online experimental survey (N = 300) examining either the acceptance of a nuclear waste repository or of a hazardous waste site, we demonstrate that (i) PAC can be separated empirically as a psychological construct from risk and benefit perception, and (ii) PAC explains a significant additional share of variance in the acceptance of both waste types beyond risk and benefit perception. Furthermore, we report what adaptation mechanisms of PAC participants expect to occur in the future. We conclude that such a dynamic perspective yields important insights in understanding individual decision-making regarding long-term infrastructure projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in spring 2011 spurred Germany and Switzerland to phase out nuclear technology. To ensure future electricity supply, this phase-out requires a strong commitment to accept alternative production technologies and energy strategies. This study examined if and how laypeople's preference for electricity produced by nuclear power and the alternatives in Switzerland has been affected by the Japanese disaster. An online study was conducted in February (N = 69) and repeated in June 2011 (N = 57), applying the same questionnaire to both samples. The study included a preference rating task involving nuclear, gas, photovoltaics, wind power, and hydropower, and choice-based conjoint tasks. The conjoint tasks contained attributes such as production technologies and price instruments. Participants had to choose their preferred combination of attributes. The results show that laypeople's preference for nuclear power dropped significantly between February and June 2011, whereas their preferences for other technologies changed only marginally. Furthermore, the envisaged mid-term “stepping stones” of gas and electricity imports on the way to renewable energy have been highly unpopular and have remained so after the Fukushima accident. Transitioning from nuclear energy to renewable energy, therefore, will likely be challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In major infrastructure projects, experts are usually regarded as responsible for producing and evaluating facts, whereas the public plays a role as far as values are concerned. In this study, we investigate the potential of values and value-related concepts in explaining acceptance of a deep ground repository for high-level radioactive waste in Switzerland. The study was in two parts, first, screening for relevant values using a questionnaire (N = 500) and, second, face-to-face interviews with 42 participants from the first part. Although the questionnaire could not predict overall acceptance on the basis of value concepts, interesting relative differences were nevertheless revealed between participants who were or were not affected by the potential siting of a deep geological repository in their own community. Additionally, the interviews offered insights into how values are related to the participatory process designed by the Swiss authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The assessment of different urban planning scenarios by stakeholders can yield important insights which, in turn, inform sustainable urban transition. Yet to gain in-depth insight, this assessment needs to be multi-faceted and should go beyond a unidimensional “most/least desired” approach. Accordingly, we use indicators that distinguish between desirability, utility and probability assessments. We compare these assessments within and between various stakeholder groups based on a set of literature-based hypotheses. We constructed six planning scenarios, systematically varied with respect to sustainability for the case study, “Erlenmatt”, a major urban redevelopment area in Switzerland. Three stakeholder groups (housing suppliers, the non-profit & public sector and housing target groups, n = 80) were investigated. The results of the statistical analyses suggest that more sustainable scenarios are preferred with respect to both their desirability and utility and that their probability is not lower than that of the other scenarios. The non-profit & public sector is the most pessimistic about the probability of a sustainable district while housing suppliers desire it less. We conclude that such detailed subjective scenario assessments can provide informative and detailed guidance for sustainable urban transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time is an important aspect of the issue of nuclear waste, both from a technical and from a perceptional perspective. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between time and risk perception of nuclear waste, applying the discounting paradigm and therefore limiting time to one very narrow aspect: its duration. However, time is a multifaceted concept and encompasses more than a linear property. The aim of our study is to test the influence of a different aspect of time, namely temporal representations (linear or cyclical) on risk perception of nuclear waste. In an experimental study we demonstrate that both linear and cyclical representations have a reducing effect on risk perception compared to the control condition, where no specific time representation was activated. Examining group differences, we also demonstrate that temporal representations have a differing influence depending on whether participants have a stable belief about nuclear waste or whether they belong to an ambivalent group that does not yet hold a stable belief. Furthermore, we replicate the well-documented gender gap in risk perception. Our results bear potentially interesting implications for risk communication by demonstrating a causal relationship between the graphic representation of time and risk perception of nuclear waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the author discusses various reports published within the issue including one by David Laws on the contemporary society, one by Marilyn Higgins on the education of planners and one by Joan Ernst van Aken on research.

Projects for the long-term disposal of radioactive waste have often been hampered by strong local and regional opposition. Public participation has been recognized as a means to cope with this problem. Advocates promoting extensive public participation suggest various, mostly distinct, involvement techniques that are claimed to cover all needs. However, public participation is still a controversial issue. Several key questions need to be answered: why and when should who be involved, by whom, using which technique, and with which expected outcome? Here, a procedure with a functional-dynamic view of public participation is proposed that combines the decision-making process (DMP) with specific types and extents of public participation. We distinguish four discrete levels of public participation, namely information, consultation, collaboration, and empowerment. We argue that these levels of participation must fit the corresponding technical and non-technical requirements of the different phases of the DMP and illustrate our arguments using a proposed site selection process for nuclear waste. This means that the type and the extent of public participation vary over the time span of a long-term DMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disposal of radioactive waste is a striking example with which to trace the changing relationship between technology, society and policy when dealing with societally relevant controversial issues. The change is characterized by a transition from a technocratic approach to an approach with more intense cooperation and public participation. We analyze the societal discourse of a failed disposal project for low- and intermediate-level waste at the Mount Wellenberg site, Canton of Nidwalden (Central Switzerland). Insights are based on a case study in 2006, with focus groups, expert interviews, a media analysis, a representative canton-wide postal survey and targeted in-depth stakeholder interviews. The article focuses on the relationship of safety and process aspects. The data suggest that both are prime issues and people recognize the need for disposal of radioactive waste in a technical system but only if a fair procedure is guaranteed. We conclude that a sound balance between safety and procedural aspects needs to be found and thus a functional-dynamic view of public involvement is necessary, i.e. distinct levels of involvement (ranging from mere information up to empowerment) must fit the corresponding technical and non-technical requirements of a stepwise decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]