SURF Technical Initiative Team
Presenters: Reanne Ridsdale & Melissa Harclerode
Contributing Authors: D. Darmendrail, P. Bardos, F. Alexandrescu, P. Nathanail, L. Pizzol, E. Rizzo
4th Annual Sustainable Remediation Conference April 26, 2016
Montreal, Quebec
� Technical Initiative Team � Research Problem & Goal � What is the Social Dimension? � Methods � Findings:
� Main Societal Impact Categories � Assessment Techniques � Case Studies
� Opportunities & Challenges � Closing Thoughts
Professional Organizations Academics � SURF (USA) � SURF-Canada � SURF-Italy � SURF-Taiwan � SURF-UK Policy Makers/Regulators � Common Forum/ ICCL International Organization for Standardization (ISO) � Working Group 12 of TC190/
SC7
� University of Venice, Italy � University of Brighton, UK � University of Nottingham, UK � University of Saskatchewan,
Canada � Montclair State University,
New Jersey, USA � University of Illinois at
Chicago, USA � University KU Leuven,
Belgium
� Lack of ‘success stories’ � No presence of indicators or tools? � Issues of addressing social aspects through
engineering lens � Lack of interdisciplinary teams
Find existing social indicators and tools and apply them to SR.
1. Common Practice � social dimension of ‘Sustainability’ � assessed among various countries and organizations � Looking to other disciplines
2. Methodologies & Case Studies � quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate societal
impacts
1. Social-Individual
2. Socio-Institutional
3. Socio-Economic
4. Socio-Environmental
(1)
(3)
(4) (2)
(Reddy et al., 2014)
� Document Review � SuRF Working Papers � Literature Review � Discussions within Networks � Social Scientist input
� Case Study Review
Ten Main Impact Categories Common Tools & Methods
1. Stakeholder Collaboration 2. Health and Safety *on-site worker & community
3. Benefits Community at Large 4. Alleviate Undesirable Community Impact
� Improve Quality of Life � social and human capital � reuse of treated media/
materials � redevelopment of the
property (reuse of the site) � Increase of property value
(site and surroundings)
� Neighborhood/Locality Scale � noise � odor � congestion � business disruptions � compromising local heritage
and cultural concerns
5. Economic Vitality 6. Social Justice
� increased housing availability � employment opportunities � reused brownfields for
equitable use
� contracting locally � investing in new skill training
and education � incorporating redevelopment
7. Regional and Global Societal Impacts
8. Value of Ecosystem Services and Natural Resources Capital
9. Risk-Based Land Management and Remedial Solutions
10. Contribution to Local and Regional Sustainability Policies and Initiatives
� renewable energy � climate change adaptation � regional land use policies � ecological restoration goals � resource consumption
� distribute resources to effectively address the site-specific human health, environmental justice, and community issues associated with contaminated sites
Understand and Identify: 1. Social factors that may work in favor of or against
sustainable remediation � Access to labour, publicity (buy in)
2. Social factors and stakeholders that are affected by remediation
� Perceived and actual risks, business access, demographics
3. Stakeholders that are affected by remediation � Business owners, community members, government,
NGOs
� Interviews, Focus Groups, Social Network Analysis � case study: Vega Science and Technology Park, Venice,
Italy (Alexandrescu, et al., 2015)
� Survey Questions � case study: Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens, Sydney, Nova
Scotia, Canada (SURF Canada)
� Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) � case study: Gunnar Mine and Mill Tailings Cover,
Saskatchewan Research Council Pilot Project (Petelina et al., 2014)
� Ethnographic research � A Civil Action
Achieve a particular outcome assessed based on TBL objectives • Encourage positive impacts • Fewer trade-offs and conflicts
Pope et al. (2004)
� A rating metric and an aggregation rule that combines individual ratings into a single overall score � qualitative and quantitative
metrics � case studies:
� social sustainability evaluation matrix tool
(Reddy et al., 2014)
� Monetized benefits to society vs. monetized costs to society of undertaking particular courses of action � case studies:
� sustainable return on investment
(Bohmholdt 2014)
� costs borne by society Evaluation - monetizing global impacts
(Harclerode et al., 2013; In Press)
1. Sydney Tar Ponds, Nova Scotia, Canada 2. Closed Landfill, North-Eastern States, USA
Sydney Tar Ponds Closed Landfill
Technique: � Panel Recommendation to
incorporate into assessment Contaminated Material: � PAHs, Hyrdocarbons, PCBs,
Dioxins, Heavy Metals Method: � Soil Capping, Water
treatment & Capping End Use: � Park, Sports Facilities, Art
Installations, & Playground
Technique: � Sustainable Return on
Investment (sROI) Contaminated Material: � Polyethlene Terephthalate Method: � Dig & Dump/Recycle End Use: � Park & Public Space
Opportunities, Challenges, Future Research, & Closing Thoughts
1. Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement
2. Risk Perception of Stakeholders
3. Trade-Offs Among Triple Bottom Line Dimensions
1. Value of Social Cost Metrics
2. Risk Perception of Reuse
3. Integrated and Objective-led Assessment Approach
4. Life-Cycle Assessment
� The principle of Occam’s Razor (parsimony) (Hiroshi, 1997) should apply. It is better to be comprehensive in the coverage of social issues than to be sophisticated in the quantification of a few.
� Take advantage of available tools and experts.
� Have multi-disciplinary teams: � Social Scientist, urban planner, economist, public
outreach (NGO).
Reanne Ridsdale, M.A., B.A. [email protected] Melissa Harclerode, ENV SP, PhD Candidate [email protected]
Entire Team: � D. Darmendrail: Common Forum/ICCL, Paris � P. Bardos: r3 Environmental Technology Ltd,
University of Brighton, SuRF UK � F. Alexandrescu: University of Venice, Italy � P. Nathanail: University of Nottingham, Land
Quality Management Ltd, ISO working group, SuRF UK
� L. Pizzol: University of Venice, Italy � E. Rizzo: University of Venice, SuRF Italy, FP7
European Project HOMBRE & TIMBRE