Open burning of municipal solid waste (MSW) is increasingly being
recognized as a major source of PM10 and PM2.5 emissions in the cities of
developing countries along with other sources, such as traffic emissions and
industrial and power plant combustion operations. MSW refers to nonindustrial and
nonmedical solid waste generated in municipal (urban) areas, i.e., garbage
generated from households and commercial establishments in cities. Open burning
of MSW (MSW-burning) refers to MSW burned in urban neighborhoods, without the
use of incinerators, with the resulting combustion-related pollutants released
to the atmosphere at the surface, with relatively less buoyant plumes.
MSW-burning differs from biomass burning, as the latter traditionally has been used
in the context of burning crop residues and other biogenic residues (such as
dung-cakes), often in agricultural settings. In contrast, MSW is not purely
biomass, but often includes plastics, rubber, and metal-containing refuse, the
burning of which releases toxic emissions (including halogenated compounds from
plastics burning). All these factors highlight the importance of MSW-burning to
public health at the urban and intracity scale.
In emission inventories conducted for a few major Indian cities,
the Central Pollution Control Board of India estimates that open MSW-burning may contribute 5% to 11%
of all direct PM emitted from sources within a city boundary. Similar estimates
are reported for Mexico City (3% to 30%) and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (4% to 7%).Thus,
the phenomenon of MSW-burning is likely to be very important to urban public health in India.
Nagpure, Ajay Singh, Anu Ramaswami, and Armistead Russell. "Characterizing the Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Open Burning of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Indian Cities." Environmental science & technology 49, no. 21 (2015): 12904-12912.
Lal, R. M., Nagpure, A. S., Luo, L., Tripathi, S. N., Ramaswami, A., Bergin, M. H., & Russell, A. G. (2016). Municipal solid waste and dung cake burning: discoloring the Taj Mahal and human health impacts in Agra. Environmental Research Letters, 11(10), 104009.
Lal, R. M., Nagpure, A. S., Luo, L., Tripathi, S. N., Ramaswami, A., Bergin, M. H., & Russell, A. G. (2016). Municipal solid waste and dung cake burning: discoloring the Taj Mahal and human health impacts in Agra. Environmental Research Letters, 11(10), 104009.