Trash that was set on fire in Kalamassery spread to a dry grassland nearby on Wednesday and had to be doused by personnel of the Fire and Rescue Service. However, such incidents of open waste burning are becoming increasingly common in Kochi and could be adding to the city’s pollution woes, say authorities.
At least 15 to 20 per cent of the fires they douse were instances of open waste burning by residents, said an official at the Eloor fire station. This was especially common during holidays; sometimes these fires spread to nearby dry vegetation and grass cover, he said.
Gogy J.S., Ernakulam District Fire Officer, confirmed this. “During this season, most of the calls that come in are due to burning of waste, especially in rural areas,” he said. “Open waste burning is very common now. In most cases, the waste is dumped near dry vegetation and this causes more danger when set on fire.”
However, apart from the immediate danger these fires cause, open burning of waste – at residences where they are generated as well as at dumping sites – is known to produce many atmospheric pollutants, including greenhouse gases, reactive trace gases, particulate matter (PM) and toxic compounds.
“Burning plastic releases dioxins as well as particulate matter,” said M.A. Baiju, chief environmental engineer at the State Pollution Control Board’s regional office in Ernakulam. “This then disperses into the atmosphere.”
An international study in 2014 that examined global emissions of air pollutants including particulate matter from open burning of trash found that more than 40 per cent of the world’s garbage is burned in such fires, and that gases and particles emitted in the process could substantially affect human health and climate change. India is one of the countries that have the highest total waste production (a study in 2012 estimated it to be 1.50 lakh tonnes per day), and has the largest estimates for residential and open dump burning, and therefore, the largest emissions from open burning of waste. Though the National Green Tribunal imposed a complete ban on burning of waste in open places in 2016, trash is still burned – in many places including Kochi – to dispose it of.
According to a recent study in which a team of scientists in New Delhi assessed aspects including pollution issues associated with open waste burning of several cities including Kochi, open waste burning – though difficult to regulate and monitor – will contribute significantly to air pollution in the city unless municipalities address this internally, starting from reducing waste generation, collecting waste efficiently, and managing the collected waste.