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. 2022 Nov 12;3(1):156-167.
doi: 10.1039/d2ea00082b. eCollection 2023 Jan 19.

Plastic waste generation and emissions from the domestic open burning of plastic waste in Guatemala

Michelle Bardales Cruz  1 , Eri Saikawa  1   2 , Mayari Hengstermann  3 , Alexander Ramirez  3 , John P McCracken  4 , Lisa M Thompson  2   5
Affiliations

Plastic waste generation and emissions from the domestic open burning of plastic waste in Guatemala

Michelle Bardales Cruz et al. Environ Sci Atmos. .

Abstract

Domestic, or household-level, open burning of plastic waste is a source of air pollutants and greenhouse gases that are often neglected in emission inventories. Domestic open burning is a considerable concern in Guatemala due to the lack of access to waste collection services, particularly in rural areas. This paper offers the first attempt to estimate emissions from the domestic open burning of waste at the city and departmental levels in Guatemala. Data were collected from the Xalapán region of Jalapa, Guatemala and analyzed to determine the change in plastic waste generation over time as well as the socioeconomic factors that may affect the extent of plastic waste generation and burning. The annual per capita masses of plastic waste burned were used to estimate emissions from domestic open burning of plastic waste in the region of Xalapán, the cities of Jutiapa and Guatemala city, and all 22 departments in Guatemala. Our results show that rural areas burn more waste domestically, likely because of a lack of access to waste collection, and 30.4% of OC, 24.0% of BC, 23.6% of PM2.5, and 2.4% of CO2 emissions in Guatemala may not be accounted for by excluding open plastic burning as a source.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Boxplot of plastic waste in kilograms generated by each household over the four weeks of the survey. The average mass of plastic waste generated in the participating households is represented by the blue points on the boxplot.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Particulate matter (PM2.5, left) and carbon dioxide (CO2, right) annual emission estimate distribution from Monte Carlo samplings for (a) the Xalapán region of Jalapa, (b) the city of Jutiapa, and (c) Guatemala city.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Scatterplot of the percent of the population that is rural in each Guatemalan department versus the average mass of plastic waste burned annually per capita in each department using the lower (A) and upper (B) boundary estimates.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Per capita emission estimates of black carbon (BC), methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), organic carbon (OC), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from burning plastics in each Department in Guatemala. Emission estimates indicated by corresponding colors on the legend are divided by 10 for BC (BC/10), and multiplied by 10 for CO2 (CO2 × 10) due to differences in magnitude. The borders of the departments of Guatemala (left), Jalapa (upper right), and Jutiapa (bottom right) are bolded in black.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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