Emissions of Carbon Dioxide and Fine Particulate Matter from the Domestic Open Burning of Plastic Waste in Rural and Urban Areas of Guatemala

Abstract:

Open burning of plastic waste can occur in areas, such as Guatemala, that lack access to effective waste disposal. Garbage burning contributes to the emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and of air pollutants, including fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 mm or less (PM_2.5). The purpose of this research was to determine the per capita emissions from plastic garbage burning in rural areas of the Department of Jalapa, Guatemala as well as Jutiapa and primarily urban Guatemala City and to determine its contribution to local and regional air quality.

We created a distribution of emission factors (EFs) for each pollutant and the amount of plastic burned per capita, based on the mean and standard deviation from observational data. We then randomly drew the EF and the amount of plastic waste from the two distributions, respectively, 1 million times to create a new distribution of emissions estimates from plastic burning per species of interest. The Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) was also set up for modeling regional air quality.

The annual per capita emissions of CO₂ from the open burning of plastic waste were 22.4±11.2 kg in rural Jalapa, 12.7±0.771 kg in Jutiapa, and 7.43±0.452 kg in Guatemala City. The annual per capita emissions of PM_2.5 were 725±379 g in rural Jalapa, 411±62.6 g in Jutiapa, and 240±36.6 g in Guatemala City. The contribution to total annual per capita CO₂ emissions from open burning of plastic in Guatemala was 0.948±0.474% in rural Jalapa, 0.537± 0.033% in Jutiapa, and 0.314±0.019% in Guatemala City. The contribution to PM_2.5 emissions was 9.45±4.94% in rural Jalapa, 5.36±0.81% in Jutiapa, and 3.13±0.48% in Guatemala City.

Our research results suggest that rural areas openly burn more plastic waste domestically and that a significant portion of their contribution to emissions comes from garbage burning. Additionally, current emissions inventories do not include emissions from open burning of waste; thus, based on these results, current emissions estimates would increase for both CO₂ and PM_2.5 if open burning were to be included. Our study also informs the need for better resources for waste collection, which could mitigate the impact of open garbage burning on the atmosphere and the environment in Guatemala.