It's no secret that a lot of people in the country burn various waste materials. I guess it's no real big deal, but some groups seem to take positions on it often. Suburban environmentalists attack them under the grounds that they release a lot of pollution, neighboors complain of the smell of burning plastic. i'll try to pick apart the arguments.

I guess where I live, I m lucky to have a town transfer station within 4 miles of my house. But that is not always the case. Take a look at St. Lawerence County, which only has 3 of such locations, is the largest of New York's counties, and most of those stations require a fee.

The reason why most people burn garbage, is to reduce it's volume. It's a simple as that—you burn paper and plastic, the remaining ash is far smaller then the product you started out with. It's not exactly rocket science, to understand why people who have to haul their garbage to the dump would want to do that.

Less volume means fewer trips to the dump (less time and fuel wasted), less that has to be landfilled, and less to pay for disposal for. From a simple economic and environmental logic, that would make sense. But like anything, it's more complex then that.

Like almost anything, burning trash releases pollution. Some of the items common in trash like plastics, release some really nasty pollution. Plastics often contain trace amounts stablizing chemicals, that are very toxic, such as lead, cadium and arsenic.

Even scarier is bleach used in paper and plastic can be pretty nasty when burned. Bleach when combined with oxygen, can create a chemical called dioxin, that in relatively small amounts is very toxic. The active ingredient in Vietnam defoliant was a version of dioxin, and look at any documentation on this really nasty chemical.

So environmentalists are quick to codemn this process, and are working to pass laws in the senate to band these pratices. But the fact is, that EPA tests have shown these chemicals are at trace levels, and are generally harmless. Yes, we live in a society where there are hundreds of chemicals in our blood, caused by are many activities we do.

Maybe I'm just ignorant, but I've never heard anybody getting sick or dieing from trash burning. I've never heard of the environment being modified or animals getting sick from those people in the country that burn trash. Without strong evidence, it seems to be a moot point. Burden of proof, is always nice to have.

Living in the country, there are certain odors that your going to be exposed to. Just like when you go to the city, you get to enjoy gasoline and diesel fumes, in the country there are things like farms, manured fields, and of course that evil smoldering burn barrel, that just seems to ruin people's days.

Plastic reaks when it burns, especially when it's smoldering, after the fire starts to burn down. Plastic when burned often melts down to the bottom of a burn barrel, along with fire smoothering stacks of waste paper (think magazines), and gets wicked an burned with a grey smoke (which is mostly water vapor in cold dry weather).

It's never cool to be downwind of any obnoxious odor, trash burning included. In some rural communties, the smoke can be rather nasty, especially in valleys, and where houses are located close together. A few of the neighboors around here still have burn barrels, and you can sometimes smell that terrible smell of burning garbage. But then again, you can also enjoy that smell of them bringing that wastewater + manure slurry stuff up the road, to manure a field about 3/4 miles away.

The odor of trash burning, is one of the reasons why my parents stopped burning garbage about a decade ago. The stench of burning plastic, among other things will certainly drive most people away. I am surpised that so many people did for so long burn garbage. I guess most people get used to it, and accept it as part of living in the country.

A lot of people toss a lot of different things in their burn barrel, because people are so different and unique. Paper, plastic soda bottles, diapers, and almost anything else common in people's houses often get burned. Farmers often burn their massive plastic wastes—such as herbicide containers, farm films (used for baling hay), and papers used to clean up. In simple, everyday garbage.

Most people aren't idiots and don't try to burn things like aresol cans or use gasoline to help burn garbage. Or if they did, they only do that once, after the inital bang, people tend to take a hint. They explode, to say the least.

Yes, and there are those people who have burn barrels and try to be politically correct. They burn things that aren't recycable, or just papers. The thing is, both of these things have toxins inthem, even if they aren't nearly as bad for the environment.