Garbage Burning in South Asia: How Important Is It to Regional Air Quality?

Abstract

Increasing air pollution in South Asia has serious consequences for air quality and human/ecosystem health within the region. South Asia, including India and Nepal, suffers from severe air pollution, including high concentrations of aerosols, as well as gaseous pollutants. One of the often-neglected sources contributing to the regional air pollution is garbage burning. It is mostly related to numerous yet small, open, uncontrolled fires burning diverse fuels, making it difficult to quantify activity and emissions. In this study, we attempted to quantify the total emissions due to garbage burning and its contribution to regional air quality, using new observational data, a new inventory, and a regional chemical transport model. We implemented the newly available emission factors (EFs) from a recent field campaign, Nepal Ambient Monitoring and Source Testing Experiment (NAMaSTE), which took place in April 2015. Using a chemical transport modelWeather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry version 3.5 (WRF-Chem)and three emission scenarios, we assessed the impact of open garbage burning emissions on regional air quality. Our results show that garbage burning emissions could increase PM2.5 concentrations by nearly 30% in India and Nepal, and result in ∼300 000 premature deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the two countries.

Wintertime Air Quality in Lumbini, Nepal: Sources of Fine Particle Organic Carbon

“…Primary PM 2.5 OC was also influenced by fossil fuel combustion (4%) and plastic burning (5%). This study contributes to mounting evidence for the importance of garbage burning on South Asian air quality 17,23,36,38,104 that should be further examined in terms of its source emissions and ambient air quality impacts. The secondary aerosol formation was indicated by sulfate, nitrate, SOA tracers from monoaromatic and diaromatic VOCs, isoprene, and monoterpenes with aromatic precursors being dominant among the SOA precursors studied.…”

Estimates of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Burden Attributable to Particulate Matter Pollution and Its 30-Year Change Patterns: A Systematic Analysis of Data From the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

“…More specifically, Southern Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest age-standardized death and DALY rates attributable to APMP, whereas South Asia had the highest absolute numbers of deaths and DALYs. As reported, the top three countries with the highest exposure to PM 2.5 were in South Asia, whose population is exposed to severe air pollution due to garbage burning, fuel combustion, and industrial emissions (28). The changing profiles of population structure, urbanization, and westernized lifestyles in Southern Sub-Saharan Africa have also been associated with the increasing PM 2.5 pollution and the corresponding growth in type 2 diabetes mellitus burden (29,30).…”

Environmental Nanoparticles Reach Human Fetal Brains

“…Millions of people are exposed to environments with concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) above current USEPA standards, a well-known global risk factor of cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological and psychiatric morbidity and mortality [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Combustion, natural (soil, volcanic) ultrafine particulate matter (UFPM), and engineered nanoparticles (NPs) are key components of PM 2.5 air pollution [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Their size (≤100 nm) and elemental composition, i.e., Fe, Hg, Ti, etc., makes UFPM and NPs highly reactive and cytotoxic, with a high capacity for damaging and crossing biological barriers [ 3 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”