For those who live in the most rural communities in North America, disposing of trash, reducing and recycling has always been the only practical way of getting rid of waste generated on the home or farm-stead.  While this often takes the pace of burying, as in the case of landfills, much of it is burnt, despite warnings to the contrary.

Usually, even the most rural areas have bans on just when and where you can burn.  For instance, many counties issue warnings and bans on burning when air quality suffers, most often during in the hottest days of the summer.  This is in sharp contrast to the more common practice of burning whatever is not otherwise picked up as soon as it arrives.

Part of the objection to trash burning is that instead of a few places that can be easily monitored, as opposed to many “non-point sources” of what is often rather toxic smoke.