The Local Impact of Waste Incineration
Bengaluru, Karnataka: Every morning at 7 am, Pavan Karunappa*, 42, drops his 8-year-old daughter off at the bus stop for school. Right next to where a dozen kids wait to be picked up, a dhaba dumps out its refuse from the night before and sets it alight.
“The smoke is too much. Sometimes, we can only see the sunrise as a blot of red and grey,” says Pavan as the bus screeches to a halt. His wife has been diagnosed with asthma, he says, which is why she’s unable to accompany them to the bus stop. “The burning waste aggravates her sinuses. We have asked the dhaba owners to stop, but they have nowhere else to dump this waste – what can they do?”
The Urban Waste Crisis in India
Pavan and his family are not alone. Bengaluru generates about 5,500 metric tonnes of waste a day, but only 2,000 metric tonnes are processed in safe, manageable environments. Garbage collection trucks often can’t enter narrow streets or side roads, leading to small, illegal waste pits piling up right next to homes and shops. While driving to the Bidadi plant (which processes 400 tonnes of Bengaluru’s waste) we encountered a ‘no dumping’ sign surrounded by plastic bags and empty beer bottles.
Across India, the story is hardly any different. In Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, large amounts of mixed waste are routinely burnt in open lots, construction sites, or vacant corners of neighbourhoods. “Municipal corporations such as the BMC (Mumbai) and KMC (Kolkata) face the same challenge as Bengaluru,” said Mr. Kumar, a government employee. “More waste is generated than can be safely collected or processed.” With this imbalance, small fires – meant to reduce the visible volume of garbage – become the default method of disposal. The result is a haze of toxic smoke that lingers in the mornings and evenings, directly adding to already high pollution levels. “But no matter what we do on the street level,” said Mr. Kumar, “the pollution from the agricultural sector remains our largest problem.”
The Burden of Stubble Burning
Every winter in North India, farmers set fire to leftover crop residue and add massive plumes of smoke to the atmosphere. This practice, known as stubble burning, is practised in the breadbasket states of Punjab, Haryana, and parts of Uttar Pradesh. This spikes air pollution levels in Delhi-NCR. Unlike city garbage, this is not just a matter of convenience. Farmers face pressure to clear fields quickly between crop cycles and lack affordable alternatives, leaving burning as the cheapest and fastest option.
According to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), stubble burning contributes nearly 20–30% of the seasonal PM2.5 load in Delhi during peak months. Researchers have used satellite imagery to show over 70,000 fire incidents in Punjab and Haryana in a single harvest season. This large-scale incineration has been linked to a sharp rise in respiratory illnesses, with hospitals in Delhi reporting a 15–20% increase in cases of asthma and bronchitis during the burning period. The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) aims to reduce particulate matter in the air by 40% by 2026; to achieve this, municipal corporations must get stubble burning under control.
Innovation and Regulatory Efforts
Haryana, one of the states worst affected by stubble burning, is stepping up its efforts to handle agricultural pollution. The Jind district in Haryana has recently made it mandatory for Super Straw Management Systems (SMS) to be installed on all harvesters used in the paddy season. SMSes makes crop stubble unsuitable for burning by making stubble difficult to ignite. Haryana hopes systems like the SM help it reach its target of being stubble-burning free by 2030.
Pathways to Cleaner Air
Citizens have laid out the framework for action against urban waste incineration. “First, municipal authorities need to expand door-to-door collection and decentralised processing plants,” says Ms. Shalini Verma, head of an NGO focusing on waste management. Community composting, biogas units for wet waste, and scaled-up recycling centres for dry waste, she says, can cut down the piles that end up in streets.
“Second,” continues Ms. Verma, “we need to prioritise strict enforcement, which will only be effective if we can bring population awareness.” Dumping spots, like the one made around a ‘no-dumping’ sign mentioned earlier, can be eliminated overnight if police are present and impose appropriate consequences under the law. At the same time, awareness drives that highlight the health costs can force people to think twice before contributing to unsavoury fumes. “My wife teaches an environmental course at the nearby medical college, where she talks about asthma and how open burning aggravates it,” said Pavan. If India invests in practical alternatives while making clear that open incineration is no longer acceptable, it can move towards cleaner cities and healthier fields, giving families like Pavan’s a breath of relief in the morning air.
