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The purpose of this paper is to examine the Chinese media’s performance on reporting the issue of waste incineration power plants. The authors analyze the role of media in supervising relevant agencies and meeting the public need for related information.

This paper provides a content analysis of media reports toward waste incineration projects that follow the anti-incinerator event that occurred in Panyu district of Guangzhou city in 2009. The sample of this paper is based on 469 news reports that were released on the state-level search engine “ChinaSo.com” from January 2010 to June 2016.

Chinese media did not continue to focus on waste incineration issues after the anti-incinerator event in the Panyu district and there were only a few news reports about this topic. News reports of the information disclosure category accounts for the largest proportion but lack a depth of explanation. The proportion of news reports of media supervision and popular science information categories is relatively small.

This paper is a pilot study of the media’s reporting characteristics on waste incineration issues. There are some shortcomings in terms of sample selection and analysis, more in-depth assessment will be implemented and improved upon the future research. This study highlights the importance of media reports before or after relevant events in examining the media’s social function. Besides, this study provides a new analytical idea for assessing the functions of the media on social public issues through media reports and the conclusions of this study have certain practical significance for the media to improve report behaviors.

This paper selects media reports on waste incineration power plant after the anti-incinerator event in Panyu district as media industry could pay much attention to relevant topics before the beginning of conflict events and continue tracking reports even after the events subside. This paper points out that Chinese media might increase sustained attention to waste incineration issues, strengthen the depth of interpretation, increase the supervision of relevant agencies, and enhance the relevance of the news reports to the public.

This chapter explores the state's response to the waste crisis (see also McDonagh, Varley, & Shortall, 2009). The conceptual basis for key turning points in the state's waste management policy is located within the parameters of an EM approach. An outline of eco-modern and sustainable thinking is provided in the chapter, as the state's policy shift on waste, from a reliance on landfill to a strategy informed by the EU's waste hierarchy would provide many of the political opportunities for GSE, and their political allies, to exploit.

Sustainability is a major concern in education policies. This paper aims to describe how alternative economic education including concepts of the circular economy (CE), cradle to cradle (C2C) and zero waste can be addressed by teacher education. The author asks to what extent such alternative concepts contribute to sustainability education and transitions and empower students and future teachers, through fieldtrips.

Fieldtrips to three extracurricular learning places in Graz (Austria) – a plastic waste disposal facility, an upcycling design atelier and a supermarket without packaging – were organized as part of a university seminar on economy and sustainability. Based on student essays reflecting the fieldtrips, this praxeological paper provides insights on how students perceive awareness-raising and innovative responses to mass consumption, recycling/upcycling and waste prevention issues.

Including altermatic economic frameworks, such as CE/C2C and zero waste, into teacher education contributes to reflections on the economic growth paradigm and promotes more sustainable futures. In various statements, students highlighted social-ecological change and awareness-raising. They rather focussed on recycling, upcycling and (plastic) packaging than on the problematic eco-efficiency of downcycling.

Alternative economic concepts can be addressed and critically reflected in sustainability education, even if rarely taught. Although the extracurricular learning places described offer partial solution from the perspective of degrowth, they can serve as an eye-opener and promote alternative economic education, where students can share experiences, knowledge and creative ideas to engage in sustainability transitions.

The first phase of Irish environmental campaigns had exploited the NIMBYist concerns of local communities in a manner that superseded the economic rewards of toxic multinationals promoted by the state. GSE's campaign extended that NIMBY frame by networking with other community groups concerned about the state's approach to waste management in the second phase of Irish environmental campaigning, which was concerned with the post-boom waste crisis and infrastructural sitings.

For their part, GSE went into 2002 with a vision of how they saw the year unfolding. 2002 would see the holding of a general election, and the momentum of GSE's petition gathering and public meetings could be utilised in an attempt to politicise the incineration issue as part of the overall election campaign. The shifting dynamic of the political opportunity structure surrounding the incineration issue had seen GSE and their local political allies losing momentum, due to the removal of the councillors’ powers on the waste issue. However, the response of a public now concerned at this perceived undermining of democracy allowed GSE to extend their democratic deficit frame.

Environmental campaigns in Ireland can be divided into pre- and post-affluence phases of multinational-led economic development in Ireland between 1958 and 2002. I construct an ‘issue history’ (Szasz, 1994) that locates the GSE case within the context of a series of community challenges to toxic industries during that period. These cases are relevant to an understanding of environmental movement activity in the decades before GSE's own campaign, before the onset of economic growth, or in the post-boom years when issues such as landfilling and incineration were the subjects of disputes across Ireland. I examine some earlier cases that have parallels with GSE's case in terms of their primary focus on toxicity and health risks, but I also look at the emergence of landfill and municipal incineration disputes since the mid-1990s that can be traced to the explosion of waste as a by-product of Irish society's fixation with consumerism.

The purpose of this paper is to study how the government stimulates incineration plants to participate in waste classification management, and how to adjust the subsidy strategy for them.

Considering that the classification behavior of residents will produce herd effect, and waste classification can reduce the disposal cost of incineration plants, the authors constructed a differential game model between the government and waste incineration plants, and analyzed the input strategy of the government and incineration plants when they cooperate in the management of municipal waste classification.

Increasing the input level of supervision or raising subsidy price, the government can promote incineration plants to increase the input level of incentive. Moreover, from a long-term perspective, increasing the input level of supervision is more effective. Compared with government supervision, the method of incineration plants incentive can more effectively increase the amount of waste disposal. Furthermore, the government supervision and the incineration plants incentive have a positive interaction effect on improving the amount of waste disposal. Increasing the input level of incineration plants incentive or the level of waste-to-energy technology can increase the amount of waste disposal, and from a long-term perspective, increasing the level of R&D investment is more beneficial to increasing the amount of waste disposal.

The results are helpful to improve the investment in the management of waste classification, and also provide a certain theoretical basis for the government's subsidy policy for incineration plants, so as to reduce the financial pressure of the government.

By extending their campaign beyond its NIMBY and health risk frames, GSE were able to open up a third frame, which was established from the political opportunity of democratic deficit surrounding the state's response to their campaign. This democratic deficit frame had its inception in the state's initial omission of the health risks of incineration in the CWP. By exploiting this opportunity, GSE were able to establish their own credentials through their provision of interest-led science about the health risks. Another area of democratic deficit exploited by GSE was seen in the state's attempt to rush the CWP through without undergoing the proper public consultation process that was written in to regional waste plans. Furthermore, the state's removal of the councillor's powers to decide the waste issue contributed significantly to a local sense of democratic deficit.

The purpose of the study is to investigate strategies for enhancing pollution oversight by local governments while reducing government-enterprise collusion (GEC) levels. Additionally, the factors influencing pollution control efforts at incineration plants are explored. Potential approaches to improving them and for effectively reducing waste incineration pollution are suggested.

The authors examined the most effective methods for mitigating incineration-related pollution and preventing collusion and developed a differential game model involving interactions between local governments and incineration plants. The findings of this work have significant policy implications for central governments worldwide seeking to regulate waste incineration practices.

The results indicate that, first, elevating environmental assessment standards can incentivize local governments to improve their oversight efforts. Second, collusion between incineration plants and local governments can be deterred by transferring benefits from the plants to the local government, while increased supervision by the central government and the enforcement of penalties for collusion can also mitigate collusion. Third, both central and local governments can bolster their supervisory and penalty mechanisms for instances of excessive pollution, encouraging incineration plants to invest more in pollution control. Finally, when the central government finds it challenging to detect excessive incineration-related pollution, enhancing rewards and penalties at the local government level can be a viable alternative.

This study stands out by considering the dynamic nature of pollutants. A differential game model is constructed which captures the evolving dynamics between local governments and incineration plants, offering insights regarding the prevention of collusion from a dynamic perspective. The findings may provide a valuable reference for governments as they develop and enforce regulations while motivating incineration plants to actively engage in reducing waste-incineration pollution.

The purpose of this paper is to examine changes in levels of voluntary environmental disclosures of Cimpor and Secil in response to increased public awareness of its activities resulting from the co‐incineration controversy in Portugal.

The annual reports of Cimpor and Secil for the period 1994‐2003 are analysed. The extent of environmental disclosure directly relating to the co‐incineration and the locations of the co‐incineration sites is also assessed.

Findings suggest that Cimpor used environmental disclosure as a mechanism of managing its legitimacy which was threatened by the co‐incineration controversy. However, the strategy adopted by Cimpor may be described as one of trivializing or skirting the issue, by not directly addressing it. Secil has directly addressed the issue since its inception.

First, only two companies and their reaction to one environmental event are examined. Second, only annual reports are analysed. Third, the content analysis method employed simply quantifies disclosure in annual reports.

The paper adds to the scarce research on environmental disclosure by Portuguese companies by providing new empirical data. It uses legitimacy theory in a situation in which companies are placed in the spotlight and see their legitimacy threatened not because they have done something detrimental to the environment but because the potential for detrimental environmental impacts resulting from their activities became the focus of the public and media attention.