Waste facility experience and perceptions of waste-related health and safety risks

Based on ecological theory, we hypothesize that positive experience with waste facility siting and storage will reduce the perceived health and safety risks associated with waste sites. Evidence is presented from data collected in 15 communities in the states of Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Colorado. Seven of these communities are hosting or were potential sites for hazardous waste facilities, four were the sites of other types of rural industrial developments and four were communities that had experienced only baseline socioeconomic activity. Surveys of residents in each of these communities on a variety of issues including concerns related to the health and safety of waste storage are examined and compared. The results indicate that residents in communities with positive experience with waste facilities perceive lower waste-related health and safety risks than residents in other types of communities when controls are included for other sociodemographic and perceptual factors.