NIMBY (Not In My Backyard)

( Article Type: Explanation )

NIMBY describes the attitude of some communities and interested and affected parties who do not oppose necessary but unpleasant or undesirable projects and developments, such as waste dumps and industrial projects, until they find out they are to be located in their own neighbourhoods. Those same people will accept benefits from these projects (e.g. being able to get rid of their wastes, or the products made by an industry) but will not accept that the waste dump or industry must be located somewhere and that this may be near them. With increased urbanisation and the fact that waste disposal and treatment facilities need to be located as close to generators as possible to save transport costs, residential developments are being located closer and closer to landfill sites and treatment facilities. The other problem relates to the fact that, although initially these types of undesirable facilities are located as far away from development as possible, urban creep tends to bring neighbours closer over time.