Using residents' worries about technology as a way of resolving environmental remediation dilemmas

The choice of technologies used to remediate contaminated environments are increasingly made via engagement with affected local residents. Despite this, little is known about how residents perceive remediation technology applications. Building on the findings of broader technology worry research, and drawing on data from a telephone survey of 2009 residents living near thirteen contaminated sites in Australia, regression analysis of closed-ended survey questions and coding analysis of open-ended survey questions are combined to identify the main predictors of worries concerning particular remediation technologies, and how worry affects them. This suggests respondents are more worried about the application of chemical remediation technologies than the application of physical and thermal technologies, which in turn caused more worry than the application of biotechnology. The paper suggests that these worries can be reduced via direct engagement with residents about remediation technologies, suggesting that such engagement can provide knowledge that improves remediation technology decisions.