Gender aspects to waste management : Why we need a gendered approach to end open waste burning

The skies across Samaná Province in the Dominican Republic are sometimes hazy from smoke drifting off piles of burning trash, and it’s not uncommon for residents to complain about noxious odors that burn their eyes and irritate their lungs. Garbage, especially plastics, is openly dumped in the streets, ravines, rivers, and streams, eventually washing into Samaná Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The mounting waste crisis threatens the peninsula’s rich biodiversity and once-pristine beaches, along with the crucial economic sectors of tourism, fishing, and shrimping.

Tiny Samaná Province, an area of about 850 square kilometers on the northeastern edge of the island, has a big trash problem. And for many of its 114,500 residents, open waste burning (OWB) is the solution. It’s also one of the biggest threats to human health, climate, and the environment.

Although outlawed in many countries, open waste burning persists in places where waste management infrastructure is inadequate. Globally, some 2.7 billion people lack access to waste collection. And in low- and middle-income countries, an estimated 40% to 65% of total municipal solid waste is openly burned, with plastics making up a significant portion of that waste. It’s not just a rural practice; residents in suburbs and crowded urban areas also openly burn trash as their best option for disposal. For example, one study in Mumbai, India, found that OWB contributes to roughly 20% of air pollution.

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OWB emits a cocktail of harmful pollutants – including fine particulate matter and black carbon – that significantly diminishes air quality and poses severe health risks to vulnerable populations. Exposure to these pollutants has been linked to cancer, liver problems, immune system disorders, developmental complications, and premature death. 

In addition to health concerns, OWB has a direct impact on climate change because it releases potent greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Research shows that black carbon emissions from OWB account for 2% to 10% of global carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, or CO₂Eq. This sooty pollutant has a global warming potential 900 times stronger than CO₂ over a 100-year horizon. In fact, a study in Mexico found that the CO₂Eq from uncontrolled backyard burning is significantly higher than methane emissions from biodegradable waste at official dump sites. The toxic ash from open burning also contaminates soil, pollutes groundwater, and disrupts the food chain. 

Across the Dominican Republic, an estimated half of the 5.1 million tons of waste sent to landfills each year is openly burned. The residents of Samaná Province are aware of the risks of OWB, but like many people living in low- and middle-income countries where municipal waste collection is limited, unreliable, or nonexistent, they don’t have much choice. Burning household waste and yard debris, which are often mixed with incidental plastic litter, is considered an effective way to dispose of it. Burning waste also deters mosquitoes, flies, mice, and other pests from proliferating and spreading disease, a perceived secondary benefit. Some people even burn waste, including plastics, to protect the environment – and their livelihoods – from the rampant problem of open dumping and plastic pollution.

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Historically, open waste burning has been ignored in solid waste management (SWM) research as well as climate and public health policies. Until recently, gender has likewise been conspicuously absent in SWM research, so it’s no surprise that there is scant information about the intersection of gender and OWB. We know that women are an integral part of waste management in their households and communities across LMICs. Without their inclusion, policymakers and practitioners will not succeed in ending the dangerous practice of open waste burning, which has evolved from a practical necessity to become a climate and public health crisis. 

Fortunately, OWB is gaining attention among SWM researchers, donors, and climate actors. It’s my goal to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on OWB and make the case for gender integration with my white paper, “The Gendered Dimensions of Open Waste Burning: A Case Study of Samaná Province, Dominican Republic, and USAID’s Clean Cities, Blue Ocean Program.” 

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Clean Cities, Blue Ocean (CCBO) program has undertaken extensive field research to examine solid waste management in Samaná Province, including surveys on household practices and behavior change trials. (CCBO is USAID’s global flagship program to address ocean plastic pollution by improving solid waste management systems and practices.) In partnership with CCBO and with funding from the Engineering X Safer End of Engineered Life program, I have combined a case study on Samaná with a review of the existing global literature to examine the relationship between gender and open waste burning. My white paper offers analysis and insights into the current waste management challenges in Samaná, which are not unlike those faced by other low- and middle-income regions. Most importantly, I offer recommendations for practitioners and policymakers seeking gender-responsive solutions to end open waste burning.

These recommendations are people-centered, gender-informed, and meant to address the systemic and socioeconomic drivers and impacts of OWB. We need an inclusive approach that takes into account the needs, roles, resources, and constraints of all members of society, especially the most vulnerable. Women often wield great influence and great responsibility in how their households and communities manage waste, so integrating them into waste management policies and solutions will lead to improved gender equity and more effective and sustainable change. A woman in Sanchez who spoke to CCBO’s research team put it bluntly: “It is with women that you have to work. Men do things, but women mostly take on everything. We are aware of everything, and more with these things [household waste].”

In Samaná Province, household waste management is a family responsibility with fluid and rigid gender roles. Contrary to prevailing assumptions around the role of women in LMICs, taking out the trash is not deemed a gendered responsibility in Samaná. Anyone can take on the task as a matter of practicality. But because women spend more time in the home, they bear this responsibility almost entirely – a burden that contributes to gender inequity.

Men typically manage yard waste and dispose of larger items that need heavy lifting, like fallen tree branches, while women and girls tend to the sweeping and cleaning inside and around the home. The extent to which these gender norms and divisions of labor extend to OWB requires further investigation, but both women and men engage in domestic burning. Both share concerns for modesty and privacy when it comes to bathroom waste. Less than 20% of households and buildings in the DR are connected to a sewer system, so burning bathroom waste ensures privacy and protection from it being discovered, either by scavenging animals who tear at garbage bags left on the curbside, or by informal waste pickers searching at dumpsites for something of value to recycle or sell. Plastic bags typically used to collect bathroom waste are incinerated in the process, along with plastic and other synthetic materials often found in feminine hygiene products.

In addition to CCBO research, expert interviews, and literature on gender and SWM, my paper draws on the robust evidence base supporting women’s economic empowerment and gender equality. When we look at OWB through this lens, it’s clear that women and children, especially girls, bear unique risks due to both their roles in society and their vulnerability to environmental hazards. This includes women and children exposed to domestic burning, women informal waste collectors working at dump sites, and low-income households living near dump sites. Here are some of the key gender-related socioeconomic, environmental, and health risks of OWB to consider:

The residents of Samaná Province are not unwilling to stop open waste burning. In fact, both men and women who participated in CCBO’s interviews and focus groups expressed frustration and sadness over the practice. They understood the dire impact on their health and the environment, and they demonstrated a high level of willingness to change. But they don’t have much alternative, until the municipal solid waste system can adequately address their underlying reasons for domestic burning. 

The paper, which may be the only analysis of its kind, shines a spotlight on the importance of women in waste management. It also illuminates the glaring lack of sex-disaggregated data needed to craft inclusive strategies. Waste management is about people and behaviors. We cannot begin to solve a problem as complex and pervasive as open waste burning without factoring in half of the population. 

I and others in this space will continue to advocate for more gender-inclusive research on the women-waste-climate nexus, but we don’t have to wait for more data in order to take immediate action. Below is a summary of my recommendations from the paper, which is available for download here. This list is by no means exhaustive; more ideas will undoubtedly surface as we dig deeper into this problem. Until then, I encourage policymakers and practitioners to incorporate these recommendations into their waste management strategies — and to integrate women at all levels of the sector. I believe we can end open waste burning, and the dangerous health and climate hazards that come with it, if we take a gender-responsive, people-centered approach. 

You can download the paper here!