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Volume 2
Journal of Environmental Research
Page 75
JOINT EVENT
July 26-27, 2018 Rome, Italy
&
6
th
Edition of International Conference on
Water Pollution & Sewage Management
4
th
International Conference on
Pollution Control & Sustainable Environment
Top-down estimation of emissions from open waste burning in Nepal
Bhupendra Das
1, 2
, Prakash V Bhave
2
and
Rejina Maskey Byanju
1
1
Tribhuvan University, Nepal
2
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal
H
aphazard, open burning of municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the most toxic sources of air pollution and is of
growing concern in cities across South Asia. Recently, it was implicated as a major cause for soiling the Taj Mahal and
impairing the health for Agra residents. Whereas a bottom-up approach for MSW burning estimation was successful in Delhi
and Agra, similar methods have proven challenging in Nepal for a variety of reasons. Although the robust estimates of the
MSW generation rate in Nepal have been documented by various studies, yet emission estimates from MSW burning remain
highly uncertain. In this study, we attempt to calculate a top-down estimate of MSW burning in Nepal by obtaining best
estimates for the amounts of MSW that are recycled, landfilled, and dumped illegally, and then calculating the burned MSW
mass by difference. After multiplying the derived MSW burning rate by emission factors obtained from local (Nepal ambient
monitoring and source testing experiment), regional and global, we obtain the most robust estimates of national emissions
from MSW open burning for the base year 2011 and projected its emissions between 2005 and 2016. Substantial emissions of
PM2.5 (6.3 Gg), CO (71.8 Gg), NMVOC (12.7 Gg), PM
10
(6.8 Gg), CH
4
(3.4 Gg), BC (2.8 Gg), OC (65.5 Gg), NO
2
(0.9 Gg), NO
(1.3 Gg), SO
2
(0.4 Gg), CO
2
(1358 Gg), and NH
3
(0.6 Gg) are estimated from this unregulated sector during the 2011 calendar
year. Open burning of MSW especially during the winter months when the mixing height is lowest could lead to acute and
chronic respiratory disease, burning eyes, headaches, nausea, fatigue, dizziness and an allergic hypersensitivity if the dose is
high enough.
bhupenids@gmail.comJ Environ Res 2018, Volume: 2