TY - JOUR
T1 - Plastic Pollution and the Open Burning of Plastic Wastes
AU - Pathak, Gauri Sanjeev
AU - Nichter, Mark
AU - Hardon, Anita
AU - Moyer, Eileen
AU - Latkar, Aarti Prakash
AU - Simbaya, Joseph
AU - Pakasi, Diana
AU - Taqueban, Efenita
AU - Love, Jessica
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - The open burning of plastic wastes is a practice that is highly prevalent across the globe, toxic to human and environmental health, and a critical—but often overlooked—aspect of plastic pollution. Most of the countries where such burning is widespread have laws and policies in place against it; open burning continues nevertheless. In this article, using data from ethnographic fieldwork in urban and rural sites in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Zambia, we examine local practices of open burning and investigate why regulations to tackle it have proven largely ineffective. Adopting a harm reduction approach, we then suggest preliminary measures to mitigate the health risks of open burning by targeting those plastics and packaging types that are most toxic when burned.
AB - The open burning of plastic wastes is a practice that is highly prevalent across the globe, toxic to human and environmental health, and a critical—but often overlooked—aspect of plastic pollution. Most of the countries where such burning is widespread have laws and policies in place against it; open burning continues nevertheless. In this article, using data from ethnographic fieldwork in urban and rural sites in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Zambia, we examine local practices of open burning and investigate why regulations to tackle it have proven largely ineffective. Adopting a harm reduction approach, we then suggest preliminary measures to mitigate the health risks of open burning by targeting those plastics and packaging types that are most toxic when burned.
KW - Open burning of wastes
KW - Plastic pollution
KW - Plastic wastes
KW - Public health
KW - Toxicity
U2 - 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102648
DO - 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102648
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0959-3780
VL - 80
JO - Global Environmental Change
JF - Global Environmental Change
M1 - 102648
ER -