Waste Policy and Industry in a Contentious Environment

This paper deals with the relationship between waste policies and the contention over waste management and incineration technologies wich have emerged in Spain and England during this decade. It is based on empirical research the author has co.ordinated in both countries with the support of the European Commission, and on a constructionist approach to social movements he has developed over the last years. This paper focuses on the different dicsourses in the mobilisations against waste incineration in Spain, their social dynamics, the different meanings of a sustainable waste policy for the collective actors taking part in these public controversies, the modernisation of the waste industry, the impact of the European directives, and the views of waste company representatives on State regulations, risk control and enterprise freedom. This paper centres on the information provided by research in Spain but this is put in comparative perspective by selective reference to our partners' work on some of these topics regarding the contention over waste incineration in England.