Many people consider garbage burning and dumping as the simplest way to dispose of waste. We have been dumping mixed garbage on streets, riverbanks, and public areas for decades. Most importantly, we have been burning waste and plastic in the open air carelessly on a regular basis, with complete disregard for public and environmental health.

We are unaware that plastics contain significant pollutants that are released into the air when they are burned, and that this is the air we breathe. Waste burning is a major source of carcinogens such as dioxins and furans, as well as black carbon that contributes to climate change, increased melting in polar areas owing to soot and black carbon deposition on snow and ice, and a variety of human health hazards.

Furthermore, the Philippines has mandated the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law, which strengthens the ban on incineration, decentralizes waste management from the city to the barangay (village), mandates waste separation at the source and
door-to-door collection, and enforces the establishment of a materials recovery facility in each barangay for composting and storage of residuals and recyclables.

Overall, if this issue continues, we put other people's lives at risk as some individuals chose to burn their trash unaware of its bad effects. People all throughout the world should be made aware of the dangers of open burning, and its contribution to the worsening of global warming. Governments and non-governmental groups should take on the task of educating people about various trash disposal procedures and waste categorization systems in order to minimize the burning of items such as plastics, rubber, expired pharmaceuticals, and industrial and chemical by-products.