The use of plastic as a household fuel among the urban poor in the Global South

Increasing plastic waste pollution has led to a rising prevalence of the open burning of plastic waste, especially in locations lacking formal waste-management systems. Urban slum communities face particularly acute challenges in accessing both organized waste-collection services and low-cost traditional energy sources, and clean cooking-fuel alternatives tend to be unaffordable for their low-income residents. Here we examine the potential risk these unseen communities face and describe the need for a new research agenda to better understand and quantify the scope of the problem. The Global South is urbanizing at a rapid rate. Moreover, in many countries, this urbanization is outpacing the expansion of amenities and economic opportunities. With global plastic use predicted to triple by 2060 and two-thirds of the global population estimated to be living in urban areas by 2050, this Perspective draws attention to the nexus of sanitation and energy poverty, and the potential problems it poses for many low-income urban dwellers. An increasing number of energy-poor households, surrounded by plentiful waste plastic, are believed to be burning waste to both meet their energy needs and manage waste, although the evidence is limited and far from representative. We discuss the factors that may push marginalized households in cities of the Global South to burn waste plastic, and why this possibility is so concerning, before closing with a call for applied research to better understand the scale and scope of the phenomenon and its consequences.