As one of the most popular methods for the treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW), waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration offers effective solutions to deal with the MSW surge and globe energy issues. Nevertheless, the construction of WTE facilities faces considerable and strong opposition from local communities due to the perceived potential risks. The present study aims to understand whether, and how, community engagement improves local residents' public acceptance towards waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration facilities using a questionnaire survey conducted with nearby residents of two selected WTE incineration plants located in Zhejiang province, China. The results of data analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) reveal that firstly, a lower level of public acceptance exists among local residents of over the age of 35, of lower education levels, living within 3 km from the WTE Plant and from WTE incineration Plants which are under construction. Secondly, the public trust of local government and other authorities was positively associated with the public acceptance of the WTE incineration project, both directly and indirectly based on perceived risk. Thirdly, community engagement can effectively enhance public trust in local government and other authorities related to the WTE incineration project. The findings contribute to the literature on MSW treatment policy-making and potentially hazardous facility siting, by exploring the determinants of public acceptance towards WTE incineration projects.

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Waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration technologies are considered an effective solution for sustainable and efficient municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in China, and the public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement has been widely used to construct and operate WTE incineration projects. However, PPP WTE incineration projects in China are affected by numerous risks due to the long concession period, various participants, and other factors commonly involved in PPPs, resulting in a number of failures. In light of the pivotal role that risk identification, analysis, and response play in the successful development of PPP WTE incineration projects, this paper presents a multiple case study to identify the risk factors involved in China by drawing on experience from the real-life risk events of 35 PPP WTE incineration plants. 18 risk factors are identified; the most critical of which being public opposition risk, environmental pollution risk, government decision-making risk, a defective legal and regulatory system, and MSW supply risk. The results of the study provide a solid foundation for the future risk analysis, risk allocation, and risk response of PPP WTE incineration projects, and shed light on performance improvement of the PPP WTE incineration projects as well as the development of the PPP WTE industry in China.

As the most effective way to manage the surge in municipal solid waste (MSW) and global energy issues, waste‐to‐energy (WTE) incineration plants have been actively promoted by the Chinese government, and the public‐private partnership (PPP) procurement model is widely used to improve management efficiency. However, risk events have occurred frequently in this industry due to a lack of practice experience and to poor risk management. To investigate the potential risk factors in PPP WTE incineration projects in China, this paper aims to identify critical risk factors by assessing their severity and occurrence probability. Opinions of industry experts were collected via an empirical questionnaire survey. The respondents were invited to rate a total of 18 risk factors that impact the success of PPP WTE projects as gleaned from previous research. The overall results ranked risk factors based on risk impact and showed that public opposition, government decision making, defective legal and regulatory systems, environmental pollution, lack of supporting infrastructure, and government credit are the top six risk factors affecting the sustainable development of PPP WTE incineration projects. In addition, the causes and consequences of each critical risk factor are comprehensively analyzed. Lastly, practical and managerial implications are analyzed in terms of their management of these critical risks. The originality of this research lies in thoroughly identifying potential implicit risk factors according to the current social background using an empirical questionnaire survey based on case study findings. The results of this study are expected to improve risk management and facilitate the sustainable development of the PPP WTE incineration industry in China.

PurposeBayesian approaches have been widely applied in construction management (CM) research due to their capacity to deal with uncertain and complicated problems. However, to date, there has been no systematic review of applications of Bayesian approaches in existing CM studies. This paper systematically reviews applications of Bayesian approaches in CM research and provides insights into potential benefits of this technique for driving innovation and productivity in the construction industry.Design/methodology/approachA total of 148 articles were retrieved for systematic review through two literature selection rounds.FindingsBayesian approaches have been widely applied to safety management and risk management. The Bayesian network (BN) was the most frequently employed Bayesian method. Elicitation from expert knowledge and case studies were the primary methods for BN development and validation, respectively. Prediction was the most popular type of reasoning with BNs. Research limitations in existing studies mainly related to not fully realizing the potential of Bayesian approaches in CM functional areas, over-reliance on expert knowledge for BN model development and lacking guides on BN model validation, together with pertinent recommendations for future research.Originality/valueThis systematic review contributes to providing a comprehensive understanding of the application of Bayesian approaches in CM research and highlights implications for future research and practice.