“A roadside burning of plastic, years of routine smoke, and one conversation that finally made Purna Bahadur Chettri look up.”
Smoke Taught Purna to See
Purna Bahadur Chettri who has been living in Butwal for 58 years was seen burning plastic wrappers, bottles, scraps of household waste in an empty plot near his road because it's easier than waiting for collection day. When I stopped to talk to him by the road, he shrugged at the flames behind us.
"It's just smoke," he said.
"It clears by morning." I told him it doesn't really clear, it moves into his lungs.
Burning plastic releases dioxins, furans, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) small enough to reach deep in the lungs and bloodstream.
A single burning plastic bag can release pollutants linked to respiratory disease, heart problems, and even cancer with prolonged exposure.
Nepal already loses an estimated 42,000 lives a year to air pollution-related illness, and open burning of waste is one of the most common, least visible contributors. Purna went quiet.
He'd never thought of the fire as anything more than a way to clear rubbish.
He looked back at the smoke differently this time not as something that disappears, but as something he and his neighbors have been breathing for decades. He promised me that he won’t burn the waste from now on and wait for the collection day.
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