Plastic is increasingly being used for fuel by much of the world’s urban poor, to the detriment of the health of local people and their environment, researchers argue in a new commentary.

As of 2021, roughly 56% of the world lives in an urban area. At the same time, nearly half a billion tons of plastic are produced every year, with production expected to triple by 2060. For much of the Global South, plastic waste management can’t keep up with plastic waste, researchers write.

Bishal Bharadwaj is a researcher at the University of Calgary, Canada, and lead author of the article. He is originally from Nepal and told Mongabay by phone that low-income people in Nepal commonly burn plastic in winter to keep warm and for cooking fuel. Plastic waste as fuel has become so common it’s even made its way into the sacred cultural tradition of cremating the dead.

“In our Hindu culture, in our town, when somebody dies, we have to go in the river and cremate the body,” Bharadwaj said. Usually, the body is placed on wood, but now people use tires as well since they burn “really nicely,” he added.

Bharadwaj said he began to suspect the ubiquitous nature of burning plastic for fuel after he took a city tour in Africa in 2023 where he saw people burning plastic around their homes.

“So, then I figure, OK, maybe this practice is quite [wide]spread, like not only just in my local community, but maybe across a lot of developing countries,” he said.

Since plastic waste is plentiful and burns easily, “it’s not surprising people in developing countries, mainly in Africa, Asia and Latin America, are putting it to use — especially as wood is increasingly scarce,” the study’s authors write in The Conversation.

They add that most evidence of burning plastic for fuel is anecdotal. There are reports, for example, from Gaza, India, Pakistan and Nepal that suggest people burn plastic as a primary fuel source. One survey from Nigeria found 13% of respondents say they burn plastic as a cooking fuel.

Plastic is made from fossil fuels, so burning it can release a myriad of toxic chemicals including dioxins and heavy metals, both known human carcinogens associated with heart and lung disease. Women and children, who tend to spend more time inside near cooking fires, are the most vulnerable.

Contamination from burning plastic can also make its way to the food people eat, the authors write, referencing a study in Indonesia that found eggs were contaminated with chemicals from a nearby waste incineration facility.

The authors write that more research is needed to understand the scope of the problem and develop solutions. As a first step, they call for expanding the use and availability of clean cook stoves and improving waste management in low-income communities.

Banner image: of using plastic as a fuel for cooking. Photo courtesy of Pramesh Dhungana.