New research highlights a growing and underreported issue, the burning of waste as household fuel in urban slums, a practice that raises serious concerns about the health and environmental consequences driven by poverty, rapid urbanization, inadequate waste management, and limited access to clean energy sources.
Bishal Bharadwaj (SETI fellow and EfD international associate), Marc Jeuland (SETI co-director and EfD international associate), and Chizoba Obianuju Oranu (EfD Nigeria research fellow), recently published the study The use of plastic as a household fuel among the urban poor in the Global South.
It includes evidence from surveys and photographic documentation from countries like Nigeria, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Palestine, Nepal, India, and Pakistan, revealing that energy-poor households increasingly turn to burning plastic to meet their basic needs. While this may offer a temporary solution for waste disposal and fuel scarcity, it poses significant and immediate risks to vulnerable populations.
Using plastic as fuel comes with significant risks
The combustion of plastic releases a cocktail of toxic pollutants, significantly contributing to household air pollution (HAP), a leading cause of millions of deaths annually. Children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing respiratory conditions are particularly vulnerable. Furthermore, the burning of plastic can contaminate food, soil, and water, leading to long-term environmental degradation and chronic health problems.
The research team discussed why households in deprived communities of the Global South cities might burn plastic waste to fulfill household energy needs, disposing of the plastic waste around them, how their context reinforces such practice, and what are the potential consequences.
The use is widely spread
About 13% of households in Nigeria indicated through a multi-tiered survey, that they burn garbage, including plastic, as household fuel. In Eswatini, plastic is commonly used to start fires, a testament to its accessibility and perceived utility. In Gaza, paper and plastic serve as cooking fuel, highlighting the extreme measures taken in resource-scarce environments.
Photographic evidence documents the burning of plastic as fuel in suburban Nepal, as well as by homeless individuals in Assam, India, and in slums in Pakistan. Indicators show that burning plastic inside households as fuel or heating might be common and needs attention. There is a need for more robust data to fully understand the scale of the problem.
Addressing gaps in current data
Current understanding of plastic waste burning in households remains limited aside from localized surveys and anecdotal evidence. Deprived households including slums have remained unseen, so their energy and waste management practices remain largely unexplored. However, this burning garbage practice could be more prevalent, and many other households might be doing it to some extent risking high exposure to pollutants.
"What we know is a tiny portion of what we need to know to properly understand and device policies/programs," said Bishal Bharadwaj.
What is the prevalence of such practice? Who is likely to burn plastic waste in their household? What is the extent of such burning? And how is plastic waste burnt in traditional stoves? Those are some of the important questions that need to be answered.
“There are limited studies on the emission from burning plastic waste inside homes and its effect as a household air pollutant,” Bishal Bharadwaj said.
The complex composition of plastic, encompassing hundreds of chemicals in various forms (LDPE, PET, PVC, etc.), results in a wide range of emissions. Even the color of the plastic can influence emissions. Furthermore, the potential for food contamination and environmental impact from toxic ash underscores the far-reaching consequences of this practice.
The researchers recommend incorporating questions about waste as cooking fuel into national surveys and including detailed data on plastic fuel combustion in emissions inventories for household air pollutants. This data is crucial for developing effective interventions and mitigating the devastating impact of this hazard.
By Belén Pulgar.