I have a neighbor that will burn almost anything in his outdoor fire. Isn't this dangerous. One day I smelled plastic melting. Isn't that dangerous? Can't melting plastic cause cancer? I'm concerned anddon't know how to tell him in a nice way!
Surferch... is right. It depends on the plastic but some plastics will certainly produce toxic gases when burned. In most cases, the human nose can smell these fumes at levels that are well below where the exposure becomes harmful but, it depends. For example, when teflon is burned, it produces hyrofluoric acid (HF) vapor. As far as I know, the recommended maximium safe exposure level to HF is virtually zero. I suggest you ask him if he has a permit for burning. It was not too long ago that almost every house had a burn barrel out back. A lot of household waste was burned, food scraps were put in the compost, the metal was collected and taken to the scrap metal dealer.
certain plastics can release toxins when burned. Check with your city or county burning laws. you can look it up online and it will say what is banned. you can then print out the list and write a polite note and leave on his door. I don't know if melting plastic causes cancer. I guess it depends upon the type of plastic but it does stink and its not good for the air anyway.
The fumes from plastic are as toxic as Sh*t but i suppose, as long as your not huffing in huge amounts, its not to bad. And to be fair, if you want him to stop and you fear that he is causing you harm, you don't have to be nice about it. Just go round and say. Hey dude, stop chucking all that mother*cking plastic on that fire man, you trying to kill me? The he might have a sh*tty come back like, Yeah, i am.. so what? This is where you pull out your longsword and slice vigorously at his testicular area : ) Well.. something along those lines anyway : )
How To Burn Plastic Safely
1] It depends greatly on what kind of plastic. The ones I would worry about are polyvinyl chloride [possible phosgene [COF2] in smoke] and polyurethane [possible cyanide in smoke]. Even then, if you are a ways away I doubt it will be a serious hazard. But polyethylene, polystyrene, polyester, etc I would not worry about. THat is not say that anyone should be huffing fumes from burning plastic. But it is not continuous exposure, the fire is a ways away, etc. 2] Do you have trash pickup ? Or recycling ? You could even offer to haul the plastic away for him
