Ten years wasted: the failure of siting waste facilities in central Catalonia, Spain

Environmental reform understood in terms of ecological modernisation faces important challenges in certain areas such as the location of waste storage and treatment facilities. In this paper, we argue that traditional technical and economical criteria used in the location of these facilities may no longer be predominant in front of other social preoccupations such as health and environmental risks, possible stigmatisation effects and territorial equity issues. A retrospective account of the failure of the siting process in central Catalonia, Spain is offered as an example of the need to incorporate alternative factors in the decisions concerning controversial land uses.