 Coalition for
Responsible Waste Incineration
A BURNING NEED:
"PUBLIC PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY"
Smokestacks used to be a comforting sight. They meant jobs.
Prosperity. Work ethic. Bread on the table. New shoes for the kids. We
seldom gave much thought to what was being emitted from those stacks.
The alternative -- no work -- was far worse than dirty sheets drying on
the line or an unpleasant odor when the wind blew just right.
What a different perception many of us have today! We see
stacks as ugly intruders on the horizon. Even the term "smokestack
industry" takes on a negative connotation. We worry about what might be
spreading across our neighborhoods from those smokestacks: smoke (Or is
it steam?), odors and, worst of all, those slow killers we can't see,
feel or smell.
The difference between then and now is in the perception. This
perception becomes important to a company trying to build a new
facility or looking to expand an existing one. The community has many
opportunities to participate in the permitting process, and its
perception of an operation will help determine whether the company's
efforts are successful.
For instance, mention "waste incinerator" and you'll touch off
myriad perceptions -- most usually negative. Such perceptions make life
difficult for waste disposal firms and others who would choose
incineration to reduce the volume and toxicity of waste. These public
perceptions can make or break the permitting efforts to operate an
incinerator.
Perceptions need not be based on fact or technology or health
risk assessments. They may be based on fear, conjecture, misinformation
or no information at all. Yet any one person's perceptions of what
incineration is and isn't will be taken into account by the permitting
agencies the same as the opinions of the technical experts.
What could cause such a dramatic shift in perception? One
possible answer is communications.
Voluminous studies and reports have told us how so many things
in our air and water cause cancer. Environmental advocates have
effectively pleaded their case to the public, the media and lawmakers
about the right to a clean environment and the need for zero risk.
These are legitimate perceptions, but they're only half the story.
Meanwhile, where has industry been with the other half of the story? In
large part, industry has been talking to itself, not sharing
information.
Business hasn't done a very good job of providing information
to the community. It has let others' "facts" form the basis of people's
perceptions of reality. Worst of all, business has done a poor job of
listening. What's needed is dialogue. The exchange of information has
to work both ways if we're going to try to turn negative perceptions
into positive ones.
Fortunately, dialogue is becoming more common between
businesses and communities. The Coalition for Responsible Waste
Incineration (CRWI) was formed to help companies better gain the
public's trust through safe operations and accurate information. CRWI
endorses this open dialogue concept and encourages its member companies
to establish formalized two-way communications programs with their
plant communities. CRWI member companies -- such as Dow Chemical
U.S.A., Eastman Kodak, and 3M -- have all begun two-way communications
programs.
Businesses have an opportunity to shape the perceptions their
neighbors hold about them. It will take time. Trust can only be built
after many years of demonstrating an honest commitment to two-way
communications. But the investments will pay off.
Companies can't operate behind locked gates and barbed wire
fences. The community has a need to know what's happening in that plant
down the street that could be affecting their families' health and
safety. Business must treat the community with the same respect and
concern it shows for customers and stockholders. Sharing information,
listening to the concerns and views of others, and being accessible to
the community will go a long way toward establishing trust that is so
badly needed -- whether the firm wants to build an incinerator or
simply stay in business for another year.
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