Uncontrolled burning of solid waste by households in Mexico is a significant contributor to climate change in the country

Abstract

Uncontrolled burning of municipal solid waste (MSW) is an important source of air pollution and is wide spread in many developing countries, but only limited data quantify the extent of domestic open burning of household waste. Here, we present some of the first field data to be reported on the uncontrolled domestic burning of waste. A representative community of Mexico (Huejutla de Reyes Municipality) was investigated and household surveys, interviews with waste operators and a waste characterisation analysis were completed to assess the extent of, and factors controlling, the open burning of waste. Waste collection provision to rural communities was very limited and, consequently 92% of households in rural areas reported that they disposed of waste by uncontrolled burning in backyards or unofficial dumps. Overall, 24% of the total MSW generated in the Municipality was disposed by uncontrolled burning. Urban and periurban areas received twice-weekly collections and the rate of uncontrolled burning was considerably smaller compared to rural households, corresponding to approximately 2% of total waste generation. Carbon equivalency calculations showed that burning waste in backyards represented approximately 6% of the total and 8.5% of fuel related COEq emissions by the municipality. Moreover, the equivalent carbon dioxide (COEq) from black carbon (BC) emitted by uncontrolled burning in backyards was over fifteen times larger compared to methane (CH) potentially released from equivalent amounts of combustible biodegradable waste disposal at the official dumpsite. An assessment of local respiratory health data showed the incidence of disease was higher in rural than in urban areas, when the opposite trend is typically observed in the international literature; given the high rate of burning activity found in rural areas we suggest that open burning of waste could be a major reason for the apparent poorer respiratory health status of the rural population and requires further investigation. The results emphasise the importance of including BC from uncontrolled burning of waste in international emission inventories of greenhouse gases and in the assessment of the health status of local communities in developing countries where this practice is prevalent.

Waste Mismanagement in Developing Countries: A Review of Global Issues

“…It has estimated that about 8,882 tons of waste are burned per year, producing 1.97 kg BC t −1 , 11.9 kg PM 10 t −1 , and 9.8 PM 2.5 t −1 that contributed for 17.5 t BC y −1 (38,553 t CO 2 -eq per year), 105.7 t PM 10 y −1 and 87.0 t PM 2.5 y −1 , for a total of 313.7 kg CO 2 -eq y −1 per capita. The results showed that the CO 2 -eq from BC emitted by waste open burning was more than 15 times larger compared to CH 4 potentially released from the decomposition of equivalent amounts of combustible organic waste deposited at the dumpsite [76]. In another study, it was found that the majority of PM generated by waste open burning had smaller sizes (PM 1 ) compared to PM 2.5 and to PM 10 .…”

A global anthropogenic emission inventory of atmospheric pollutants from sector- and fuel-specific sources (1970–2017): An application of the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS)

“…The supplement for this article describes a list of known inventory issues at the time of submission, as well as a number of additional CEDSGBD-MAPS details, tables and figures, and data sources, including the following: (Boden et al, 2016(Boden et al, , 2017BP, 2015;Doxsey-Whitfield et al, 2015;EC-JRC/PBL, 2012EIA, 2019;IEA, 2015;Klein Goldewijk et al, 2011;Sharma et al, 2019;Stohl et al, 2015;The World Bank, 2016;UN, 2014UN, , 2015Wiedinmyer et al, 2014;Commoner et al, 2000;Reyna-Bensusan et al, 2018;Nagpure et al, 2015;Meidiana and Gamse, 2010;US EPA, 2006).…”

Mismanagement of plastic waste through open burning with emphasis in the Global South: A systematic review of risks to occupational and public health

“…14,116 Consequently, black carbon may have as much as 5,000 times the global warning potential of carbon dioxide. 39 Two studies 81,82 identified in this review calculated emissions factors for plastic wastes (Table 8). However, both are of limited use for extrapolation, because the waste sources used are either unspecified in the case of Park et al 81 or highly specific in the case of Wagner et al 82 .…”