As urbanization accelerates across the Global South, a silent crisis is unfolding in the shadows of sprawling metropolises. The convergence of mounting plastic waste and pervasive energy poverty is giving rise to an alarming, yet largely unrecognized, environmental and public health hazard. Many low-income urban dwellers, particularly those residing in informal settlements and slums, are increasingly resorting to the open burning of plastic waste as an expedient tool to fulfill their everyday energy requirements. This growing practice, born out of both necessity and the absence of robust waste management infrastructure, poses complex challenges that demand urgent attention from researchers, policymakers, and public health officials alike.
The rapid urban expansion sweeping through the Global South has been a hallmark of recent decades. Cities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are swelling as economic opportunities draw rural populations into densely packed urban areas. However, this demographic surge has far outpaced the capacity of city administrations to extend essential services such as sanitation, waste collection, and reliable energy supply. In these environments, households often find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of limited access to formal amenities and inadequate energy sources, which significantly influences their daily survival strategies. Among these, the burning of plastic waste for cooking and heating emerges as a desperate yet widespread coping mechanism.
Plastic production and consumption have inflated exponentially over the last half-century, with global plastic use projected to triple by 2060. Concurrently, the United Nations estimates that by 2050, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population will reside in urban areas, many in neighborhoods characterized by poverty and marginalization. Within these dense urban pockets, discarded plastic garbage accumulates rapidly, overwhelming inadequate municipal waste collection and disposal systems. For countless energy-poor households, this abundance of plastic waste presents a readily accessible, albeit hazardous, fuel source to meet basic energy needs. The unsafe combustion of plastic, though prevalent, remains underdocumented in the scientific literature, leaving a critical gap in understanding its scale, drivers, and impacts.
Open burning of plastic waste—a practice whereby polyethylene bags, packaging materials, and other plastic detritus are set alight in residential neighborhoods—releases a toxic cocktail of pollutants into the air. These emissions include persistent organic pollutants such as dioxins and furans, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds, all of which have severe implications for respiratory health and environmental quality. Residents of informal settlements, particularly women and children who spend more time near cooking areas, suffer disproportionate exposure to these hazardous substances. Despite this, the phenomenon remains largely invisible to mainstream environmental health research, overshadowed by more conventional sources of urban pollution.
Several socioeconomic and infrastructural factors underpin the decision to burn plastic waste as a fuel source. A key driver is the persistent energy poverty in low-income urban communities, where traditional cooking fuels like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or electricity are either prohibitively expensive or physically inaccessible. Furthermore, unreliable municipal waste collection services often leave residents to manage increasing volumes of plastic litter themselves. With no formal means to dispose of waste and meet essential energy demands, the conflation of sanitation and energy challenges pushes marginalized urban households toward this pernicious coping strategy.
Energy poverty itself is a multifaceted issue. It extends beyond mere lack of access to energy, encapsulating affordability, reliability, and safety concerns. In many urban slums, the high cost of clean fuel alternatives forces households into a hierarchy of fuel choices that prioritize immediacy and cost over long-term health or environmental considerations. Burning plastic waste represents an economically rational yet extremely hazardous option in this context, highlighting a critical intersection between poverty, environmental risk, and urban sanitation management that has so far eluded comprehensive investigation.
The environmental ramifications of widespread plastic burning extend beyond localized air pollution. The release of greenhouse gases and persistent toxic compounds contributes to global climate change and transboundary pollution challenges. Moreover, incomplete combustion often produces microplastics and nanoplastics that contaminate soil and water bodies, exacerbating urban environmental degradation and threatening ecosystems. The prevalence of plastic burning in low-income urban areas must therefore be recognized not just as a local public health emergency, but as a component of broader planetary environmental stressors linked to global plastic proliferation.
Despite these profound concerns, empirical data on the prevalence, causes, and consequences of plastic waste combustion among urban poor households remains scant. Most existing studies rely on limited case studies or anecdotal reports rather than systematic, representative research across diverse settings. This paucity of data hampers effective policy formation, as the scale of the issue, demographics affected, emission levels, and health burdens remain poorly quantified. Bridging this knowledge gap requires the deployment of interdisciplinary research frameworks that integrate urban planning, public health, environmental science, and social policy perspectives.
Addressing the root causes also demands innovative solutions transcending traditional waste management or energy provision paradigms. Strategies that enhance access to reliable, affordable clean energy sources such as subsidized LPG, electricity, or community-based renewable energy systems could dramatically diminish reliance on hazardous informal fuels. Simultaneously, strengthening community-centric waste management infrastructure—including localized collection, segregation, and recycling programs—may reduce the accumulation of plastic waste and the impetus to burn it. Importantly, these interventions must be designed with active participation from affected communities to align with socio-economic realities and cultural contexts.
Policy interventions should also consider gender and age dynamics that shape exposure and fuel-use patterns. Women often bear the brunt of indoor air pollution due to their role in cooking, while children’s developing respiratory systems render them especially vulnerable. Targeted health education campaigns, coupled with community health monitoring, can raise awareness of the risks while documenting health outcomes related to plastic smoke exposure. Integrating these initiatives within broader urban development and poverty alleviation programs can help mitigate multiple intersecting vulnerabilities.
In conclusion, the emergent phenomenon of plastic burning as a household fuel among the urban poor underscores the complex nexus of urbanization, waste management, and energy access in the Global South. It exemplifies how intertwined social, environmental, and health challenges converge at the margins of rapidly expanding cities, often eluding traditional governance and scientific scrutiny. Recognizing and responding to this hidden crisis requires a paradigm shift that places the lived realities of informal settlement residents at the center of research, policy, and intervention design. Only through such comprehensive efforts can we hope to break the cycle of plastic pollution and energy deprivation imperiling millions.
As this issue gains prominence, there is an urgent call for applied, multi-sited research to elucidate the magnitude and nuances of plastic fuel use. Such studies must employ state-of-the-art air quality monitoring, epidemiological assessments, and socio-economic analyses to capture the full spectrum of impacts. Collaborative international research partnerships can foster the sharing of methodologies and best practices essential for crafting scalable solutions. Ultimately, tackling plastic burning in urban slums offers a critical opportunity to advance sustainable urban futures, improve public health, and combat environmental degradation simultaneously.
This investigation offers a clarion call to scientists, urban planners, public health officials, and development agencies to mobilize knowledge and resources around an underappreciated environmental health dilemma. Only by amplifying the voices and conditions of energy-poor urban populations encircled by mounting plastic waste can we foster inclusive, informed policies that alleviate suffering and safeguard planetary health. As the Global South hurtles toward a predominantly urbanized future with skyrocketing plastic production, proactive evidence-based interventions are imperative to prevent an invisible epidemic from sprawling unchecked.
Subject of Research: The use of plastic as a household fuel among the urban poor in the Global South, focusing on the intersection of plastic waste management and energy poverty.
Article Title: The use of plastic as a household fuel among the urban poor in the Global South
Article References:
Bharadwaj, B., Gates, T., Borthakur, M. et al. The use of plastic as a household fuel among the urban poor in the Global South. Nat Cities 2, 283–289 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00201-5
Image Credits: AI Generated
