Burning Trash: Bad for Humans and Global Warming

Smoldering garbage turns out to be a significant source of the greenhouse gases causing climate change
By Andrea Thompson, Climate Central on September 2, 2014
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/burning-trash-bad-for-humans-and-global-warming/

When atmospheric scientist Christine Wiedinmyer first went to Ghana in 2011 to investigate air pollution produced by
burning different materials she noticed an unexpected potential source: burning piles of trash.
Like most residents of developed nations who hadn’t traveled in the developing world, the sight of smoldering garbage
piles, which contain anything from food waste to plastics to electronics, came as a surprise to Wiedinmyer, who works at
the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

Ghana, Nepal, Mexico and other developing countries often lack the tax bases and infrastructure needed to put such
systems into place. Residents and governments often burn piles of their trash in the open; removing the garbage from the
land but transferring it to the skies. Some 40 percent of the world’s waste may be dealt with in this way.

Wiedinmyer found that some 1.1 billion tons of waste, more than 40 percent of the world’s garbage, is burned in open
piles, contributing more emissions than is shown in regional and global inventories. An estimated 40 to 50 percent of the
garbage is made up of carbon by mass, which means that carbon dioxide is the major gas emitted by trash burning. Those
emissions are dwarfed by others sources on the global scale, such as cars and power plants, amounting to just 5 percent of
total global carbon dioxide emissions. But the carbon dioxide that comes from trash burning can be a significant source in
some countries and regions, and it is one not reflected in the official greenhouse gas inventories for those places.

The more interesting and concerning story to Wiedinmyer are the other pollutants, which accounted for far bigger
percentages of global emissions. For example, as much as 29 percent of global anthropogenic 1 emissions of small
particulate matter (tiny solid particles and liquid droplets from dust to metals that can penetrate deep into the lungs) come
from trash fires, she estimates. About 10 percent of mercury emissions come from open burning, as well as 40 percent of
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Such pollution can cause lung and neurological diseases, and have been linked to
heart attacks and some cancers.

Reducing emissions from trash burning isn’t an easy prospect in many areas. In Nepal, the government is well aware of the
problem, but it can’t afford the kind of highly efficient incinerators that would get rid of much of the emissions from trash.
“It’s expensive to get rid of garbage cleanly,” Yokelson said. And it’s not clear how much of an effect reducing this source of
pollution would have in different areas. But, you need to make a small step to make a big step. This kind of study is very
important to figure out what needs to be done.

Ending Landfill Fires

1
Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), precursors of GHGs and aerosols caused by human activities. These activities include the burning of fossil fuels,
deforestation, land use and land-use changes (LULUC), livestock production, fertilization, waste management and industrial processes.
Citizen coalition against "incidental fires" at municipal dump of Loreto, Baja California Sur
https://www.keeploretomagical.org/ending-landfill-fires

The local citizen action group that protects water, FRECODEL, has done extensive work to effect transparency, access to
public information and accountability around the management of Loreto’s municipal trash dump. Under Mexican
environmental law, fires in a municipal dump are illegal because of the presence of plastics and other materials which
release toxic and often carcinogenic fumes into the air when burned. In addition to this health hazard, medical wastes have
been found to have been illegally dumped at the site so that fires will add their off-gases to the air we all breathe. The
Municipal dump is only two kilometers from the urban area of Loreto, seven from downtown, nine from the international
airport and fourteen from Nopolo. The City Council of Loreto does have a Municipal Residue Committee to oversee the
municipal dump. However, the “incidental fires,” as they are reported by the City of Loreto, have not been stopped.

For unknown reasons, most of the fires registered by the police take place at night, producing a stench in the whole bay of
Loreto with a blanket of smoke seen even from the tourism developments at Ligui and Ensenada Blanca, 32 kilometers
south of Loreto. In December 2019, the fumes from the dump were so devastating that local newspapers delivered
instructions to 46% of downtown Loreto homes advising residents to cover the doors and windows with wet towels for a
full day because of the hazardous fumes in the air. On that day, the local hospital received many reports of respiratory
problems within the population.

A newly formed citizen action group and FRECODEL have requested support from Keep Loreto Magical in their efforts to
have the City of Loreto conform to environmental law in Mexico and completely stop the fires at the dump. The workshops
they organize for public information will underline the issue with the help of state law regarding disposal of plastics at the
household level, since some residents of Loreto continue to burn trash illegally on their own property. FRECODEL intends to
disseminate “no plastics” infographics highlighting the health hazards involved. These initiatives should build public
understanding that any amount of preventable toxic pollution should stop, putting pressure on individual offenders and
reducing, if not eliminating, the private burning of trash. As well, many people will newly realize that municipal firemen put
their lives and their future health at risk each time they have to breathe in carcinogenic fumes when they are called upon to
put out landfill fires.

There is no mystery to appropriate landfill management: in Loreto’s case it requires that the city begins to use heavy
equipment. There is a clear and practical regulation. Loretanos are organizing to insist that PROFEPA (the enforcing arm of
Mexico’s environment protection laws) perform regular inspections and impose all applicable sanctions to those
responsible for the huge mismanagement of Loreto's municipal dump. The activists, at least, know that if Loretanos are to
grow healthy and tourism development is to flourish, effective action is imperative.