From your daily kitchen waste to your backyard trimmings, green waste makes up a large portion of your trash. Green waste is made up of organic matter which can be composted. It can be used as manufactured topsoil, as biofuel, or be mixed with sewage to help dispose of it safely. Regardless of how it can be used, green waste is a sustainable and renewable choice.
However, not everyone realises these benefits. Green waste, along with paper, cardboard, some industrial wastes, plastics, tyres, and rubber, is flammable. Among these types of waste materials, organic wastes are considered to be the most flammable and combustible, and the most common, with a total of 7 million tonnes of organic waste collected every year. Additionally, unlike the rest of the list, organic waste is not as toxic as plastics, industrial wastes, and rubber. This is why burning it for easy waste disposal has been an option for quite some time.
Despite being a convenient option, burning green waste is a bad waste disposal idea, whether in your own backyard or in your local landfill. This is because in the long run, burning green wastes has a great impact on all of our lives. Listed below are the reasons why you should not burn your green waste.
1. Burning green waste harms your health and safety.
Backyard and landfill fires pose a real threat to the health of anyone living nearby. Let’s begin with people who have respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic bronchitis. The smoke itself is enough to trigger their condition, which can lead to difficulty in breathing, loss of consciousness, and if untreated, death.
Aside from the smoke, burning green waste releases toxic fumes. Burnt organic matter releases chemicals such as dioxins which, if inhaled, can pose harm even to the healthiest individual. Dioxins have been linked to many diseases like cancer, liver failure, skin rashes, and reproductive and developmental disorders. You may never know that these substances are hidden in your waste until their fumes reach your lungs.
Aside from air toxins and hazards, burning green waste as a form of rubbish disposal can cause uncontrolled fires and potential explosions. It is possible that flammable material, like oil or a piece of battery, can get mixed in with your pile of organic waste. Because of this, you are placing yourself and your neighbourhood at risk of fires. Not only could it damage homes, but it may also risk serious injury.
Burning wastes poses greater harm when it occurs in landfills. Because of poor waste disposal, some of them are mixed with more toxic matter. When a fire breaks out, it can potentially change the landscape of the landfill.
2. Burning green wastes harms the environment.
Burning organic matter as a means of disposal can cause land, water, and air pollution. It leaves behind a pile of ashes and charred/melted material in your backyard or landfill. As previously mentioned, this can drastically change the land.
Burning green waste likewise causes the water to be contaminated. Often, water is used to put out the fire. This water can seep into the burnt solid wastes, absorbing the harmful materials along the way. Eventually, the water may find itself in a nearby body of water or seep underground and contaminate the groundwater.
Lastly, air pollution can stem from the burning of green waste, particularly greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide are produced. Over time, the build-up of these chemicals bind with the ozone in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.
3. Burning green wastes harms the economy.
Burning is a non-economical form of rubbish disposal. The cost of fighting waste fires and other environmental maintenance measures can hurt the economy as well. During a fire, transportation and communication is greatly affected. Also, the damage caused by any fire leads to the loss of local businesses and agriculture. Even if you do not practice the burning of green waste or you do not live near a landfill, you can still be affected.
A good alternative: hire Newcastle skip bins!
Instead of burning your trash, why not use it for your own benefit? With the help of skip bins in Newcastle, you do not have to burn your backyard green waste. Hire skip bins at Skip the Tip and Derwin Waste Management Solutions to help you get rid of your green waste. If you need to rent skip bins, hire from Skip The Tip today!