Household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel combustion is a major contributor to air pollution and poor health. In low- and middle-income countries, household waste burning, especially of plastics, is a major but unaddressed environmental and health hazard in countries that lack infrastructure to properly dispose of waste.
Burning plastic leads to the generation and release of secondary pollutants such as microplastics and air toxics, including bisphenols and phthalates, which may disrupt neurodevelopment, endocrine, and reproductive function.
The first presentation will focus on a study to use an implementation science approach to implement and evaluate fidelity to intervention strategies to reduce plastic waste burning. The second presentation will describe the community engaged approaches used to facilitate community-informed research to assess exposure to secondary solid and gaseous pollutants as a result of inadequate solid waste management. The presenters will demonstrate examples of the methods and tools they developed to support community engagement in field sampling and preliminary results dissemination.