IN their quest to have a clean and green environment, householders should know that they must NEVER ever burn waste.Apart from recycling, there are two safe ways; and only two safe ways: To dispose of solid waste, bury it, or have it taken to the landfill. Don’t ever burn waste, especially the modern-day waste.

This is the very conscientious advice of Mr. Rufus Lewis, a local Waste Management (WM) expert attached to the Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill (HBSL).

Mr. Lewis is the Recycling Manager at the HBSL, and he is attached to the Contractor, B.K. International Inc.

Backyard burning refers to the burning of household trash by residents on their own property.
Trash typically burned can include paper, cardboard, food scraps, plastics that would otherwise be recycled or sent to a landfill.

So, locally, backyard burning of waste is common in many areas of the country. People do it for various reasons: either because it is easier than hauling it to the local disposal site, or because there may be no disposal site nearby. In rural areas, it is in most cases the only way that people can get rid of their waste.

Burning usually occurs in a barrel or open pit. But air emissions from backyard burning are released directly into the atmosphere without being treated or filtered.

Mr. Lewis says current research indicates that backyard burning is far more harmful to people’s health than had previously been thought. He said most people who do backyard burning of waste, such as tins and Styrofoam and plastics, do not realize how harmful this practice is to their health and to the environment, particularly plants.

“It has been scientifically proven that burning modern day waste, or backyard burning, is a major health hazard. It can increase the risk of heart disease; aggravate respiratory ailments such as asthma and emphysema; and cause rashes, nausea, or headaches,” he said during a recent interview.

Backyard burning also generates gases which can cause cancer, he said. “Backyard burning produces harmful quantities of dioxins, a group of highly toxic chemicals that settle on crops and waterways, where they can eventually wind up in food and affect people’s health,” he said.
He disclosed that, typically, dioxins do not exist in materials before they are incinerated, but are produced when waste is burned.

Significantly higher levels of dioxins are created by burning trash in burn barrels. This is so because household burn barrels receive limited oxygen, and thus burn at fairly low temperatures, producing not only dioxins, but a great deal of smoke and other pollutants.

Backyard burning of modern day waste in the open air is particularly dangerous, because it releases pollutants at ground level, where they are more readily inhaled or incorporated into the food chain. (To be continued)
Written By Clifford Stanley