ORIGINAL ARTICLE N.I.M.B.Y. Syndrome and Landfills: The case of the landfills in the Region of Pella and the emergence of a NIMBY syndrome Y. Frangopoulos, E. Kolovou, D. Kourkouridis Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Abstract: The main aim of the paper is the exploration of a possible Not in My Backyard Phenomenon (NIMBY) in the region of Pella, because of the irrational functioning of the Landfills of Aridaia and Edessa. The exploration that central hypothesis initially attempted through clarification of bibliographic and theoretical sources (social, economic, political, etc.) involved in the expression of the syndrome N.I.M.Β.Y. and with regard to the waste management practices. The primary research with questionnaires and interviews concerned the inhabitants of the communities that are located in the area of the landfills of Aridaia and Edessa. The objective was to relate the environmental knowledge and citizens’ action with their socio-demographic and educational profile and ultimately their willingness to play a role in participatory planning and environmental control processes of the landfills operating in their areas. Our parallel objective was to identify the potential factors that may be a cause of rebound NIMBY phenomena. Keywords: N.I.M.B.Y. (Not In My Back Yard); Landfills; waste management; sociology of space; Regional Unit of Pellas 1. Introduction The so–called N.I.M.B.Y. syndrome refers to models that are based simply on the social reaction of citizens against unwanted facilities that can generate environmental, economical, social (exclusion) and other dangers. The territorial adjacency of place with an activity which from social regard is comprehended as dangerous and threatening, leads to various behaviours of opposition. Τherefore, the place in the space and the perception of danger and risk from the society regarding N.I.M.B.Y syndrome can be considered as two independent variables. According to Glaberso as he is mentioned from Kraft & Clary[1] the theoretical approaches that spring from literary, scientific and journalistic sources report that N.I.M.B.Y noisy, powerful and express itself everywhere. «Nimbys» usually demand from the authorities to fully involve the public with the openness and integrity in all aspects of the planning process. Although the N.I.M.B.Y. phenomenon appears now days more and more often and assembles dynamic mobilisations the scientific literature on the determinants and magnitude of the N.I.M.B.Y. syndrome is still scant[2]. According to Likou[3], waste management term, refers the activities of provisional storage, collection, transport, transhipment, treatment, exploitation, re-use or final disposal in natural recipients of the waste including the monitoring of this work as well as the later care of spaces of disposal. Aim of the waste management is the reduction of their production. This reduction is possible to be achieved via technical, economic and legislative regulations as well as through a frame of social behaviour and attendance of citizens, that will aim at as the drastic reduction of weight and the volume of produced litter. The management of litter is a particularly complex process inside which coexist various economic, Copyright © 2018 Y. Frangopoulos et al. doi: 10.18686/mmf.v2i3.1123 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Modern Management Forum Volume 2 Issue 3 | 2018 | 1 social and environmental components. In the system in question and so that is ensured his rational and completed management, is essential the collaboration of all independent parts that is involved. Landfilling has been used for many years as the most common method for the disposal of solid waste generated by different communities[4]. Along with other waste disposal option such as, recycling, combustion-incineration and composting, landfilling is mostly preferred, because of its easy operation, low cost, less technological involvement and comfort of implementation[5]. The guidelines for appropriate site selection are provided through national and international (EU directive 99/31/EC) legislations. The institutional framework should aim to protect environmentally sensitive areas and ensure development prospects and citizens’ prosperity. In Greece, the national legislation (Greek Governmental Ministry Decision 114218/97) includes exclusion criteria as well as evaluation criteria. Amongst the evaluation criteria prevails i) geology/hydrogeology/hydrology, ii) environmental criteria, iii) spatial criteria, iv) operational/general and v) economic criteria. Apart from the national legislative regulations on landfill sitting that exist in each real life case study, many and various criteria have been used in the computation process. Several landfill siting techniques can be found in the literature, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), multiple criteria analysis or their combination. Demesouka et al. (2013) included in their analysis the hydrogeology/geology, morphology, environmental, socioeconomic and design/technical/economic as decision criteria[6]. It should be noted that almost in all cases the social component (agents, groups and individuals) is present but it mostly only refers to the distance from residential areas and a total absence of the criterion of social acceptability is noticed. The reasons causing environmental problems is obvious that it is not possible to be solved only via their scientific and technical interpretation. According to Kanatschnig & Weber as they are referred from Velli (2006:3), the sociological and economic dimension that coexists in the interpretation of problem has also very important consequences. It is therefore obvious, that the protection of environment should be in step with its scientific dimension and to be interpreted through the prism of human attitude and behaviour. The effort of dialogic between the human behaviour and the protection of environment means plurality, which can answer from concurrent up to fervent supporters up to opposite, intense disagreeing or simple incurious. The main aim of the paper is the exploration of a possible N.I.M.B.Y syndrome event in the region of Pella, because of the irrational operation of Landfills of Aridaia and Edessa. The investigation of central affair in question was initially attempted via the clarification by bibliographic and theoretical sources all of those factors – components (social, finances, policies etc) that are involved in the event of N.I.M.B.Y. syndrome always in relation with practices of waste management. Following, were mentioned empiric case studies so much from the national as from European space with regard to the applied practices of management of waste from which we also exported interesting conclusions related to the causes of event of N.I.M.B.Y.. In continuity, was realized the basic inquiring department of work which constituted the investigation via sociological research of case studies for the landfills of Aridaia and Edessa inside the limits of P.E. Pella, in relation always with Phenomenon N.I.M.B.Y. At this investigation, we drew primary data from the regions of interest aiming at the interpretation of sociology of space inside which functioned the two landfills. Objective was via this data, to export conclusions initial for how the social profile of sample influences the probability of event of a syndrome such as the N.I.M.B.Y. At the same time were searched questions that concerned the management of litter and the environment concerning of the local communities, subjects of sociology that were related to the planning and the arrangement of landfills, questions that concerned the relation of local citizens with the administrative structure as well as the intention of citizens for social reaction in potential environmental dangers. All the above empiric study of case, led to the export of conclusions regarding the influence of the social characteristics of individuals to the probability of event of a N.I.M.B.Y. syndrome, as well as in very interesting interpretations with regard to the perception of citizens with regard to the space, administrative structures and their ways of reaction in questions of environmental devalorisation. Finally, on the occasion all but also according to the methodology that was selected for the empiric investigation, we attempted to answer the question if in the limits of P.E. Pella will appear - outburt a N.I.M.B.Y. phenomenon as a result of the irrational operation of the landfills of Aridaia and Edessa. 2. Nature and Dimensions of the N.I.M.B.Y. Syndrome 2 | Y. Frangopoulos et al. Modern Management Forum The N.I.M.B.Y. syndrome is an extremely complicated task that influences and is influenced by a wide variety of factors. The main reason for the thoroughly investigation of the NIMBY syndrome as a social phenomenon lies on the fact that it has resulted in the cancellation of numerous interventions and projects. The appearance of NIMBY syndrome could be shortly attributed to the following factors: 1. Personal beliefs and options: Many studies have shown (Van Liere, Dunlap, Stern) that both structural social elements such as sex, social class, age, place of residence and the psychological social elements such as political belief, the activation of standards and values act as catalysts in individuals’ behavior and thus contribute to the evolution of attitudes and subsequent practice. 2. Environmental fears: The most common reason for NIMBY appearance is based on the potential environmental degradation of the area where the disturbing activity is going to appear and consequently to the decrease of quality of life[7]. 3. Sociopolitical contrasts: In many cases, the NIMBY syndrome is developed because of suspiciousness of local people to science, technology and government’s functions and processes. Moreover, lack of information and absence of public participation and involvement in decision-making, intensify social reactions.