Abstract. It is a common practice in developing countries and in some
regions of Europe that solid wastes generated in households (e.g.
plastic beverage packaging and other plastic wastes, textile wastes,
fibreboards, furniture, tyres, and coloured-paper waste) are burned in wood-
or coal-fired stoves during the winter months. In Europe, the types and
volume of municipal waste burned in households is virtually unknown because
these activities are illegal and not recorded, with the exception of a few
media reports or court cases. Even though particulate emissions from illegal
waste burning pose a significant hazard to human health due to the combination
of excessive emission factors (EFs) and uncontrolled chemical composition,
there is scarce information on the specific EFs for PM10 and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the scientific literature. In this work,
controlled combustion tests were performed with 12 different types of
municipal solid waste, and particulate emissions were measured and collected
for chemical analysis. Absolute EFs for PM10 and PAHs as well as the
benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) toxicity equivalent of the latter are reported for the first
time for the indoor combustion of 12 common types of municipal solid waste
that are frequently burned in households worldwide. It was found that the
PM10 emission factors from the combustion of wood-based waste samples
were about twice that of firewood, whereas EFs in the range of 11–82 mg g−1 (a factor of 5–40 times higher than that of dry firewood under the
same conditions) were obtained for different types of plastic waste. The
latter were also found to emit exceptionally high quantities of PAHs, by a
factor of 50–750 more than upon the combustion of dry firewood under the
same conditions. Since the more toxic 4–6 ring PAHs were predominant in the
particulate emission from plastic waste burning, BaP equivalent toxicity was
up to 4100 times higher than that from wood combustion.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) formation from the pyrolysis of different municipal solid waste fractions
