Burning plastic

[baddayattheoffice]

We have an open coal fire and we often burn plastic wrappers that can't be recycled. I am shocked at the speed at which the fire takes hold of plastic and the ferocity of the flames.

It makes me think that our houses are full of plastic- based items, things that we don't often think about as containing plastic and they are often dangerously, highly flammable. Should we be made more aware of this as a hazard or AIBU?

You are very unreasonable for burning g plastic. Not only does it smell it releases carcinogens. Incinerators but at a much higher temperature, have chineys much taller than a house and are still linked to health issues. Why not put ybis in a proper waste stream?

Burning plastic is a terrible idea www.google.com/amp/s/grist.org/living/whats-worse-burning-plastic-or-sending-it-to-a-landfill/amp/

Most plastic items in the home are much more thick and solid than a bit of wrapper and therefore less flammable.

Why would you burn plastic?

I hope you don't have kids breathing the fumes in.

Please don’t burn it yourself. There are serious health implications. In order to properly burn plastic it’s needs to be done properly. A coal fire won’t do this.

Well I think burning a few wrappers is better than it ending up in the ocean or causing harm to wildlife in some way.

When you think about it nearly every item in our lives has plastic of some kind in it and it's often just as flammable as the wrappers I burn, regardless of how thick it is, that doesn't make it less flammable.

You only have to think about the cladding on the Grenfell Tower and how quickly it took hold to realise that.

Well you also can’t argue with stupid. So I won’t.
Our waste processing streams are highly regulated in the U.K. littering is not.

Hopefully you’ll realise you’re wrong when you get hospitalised or one of your children get unfortunately ill.

Being thicker makes it less flammable as it decreases the surface area. For the same reason a bundle of small sticks would burn much faster than a big log of the same mass.

Also pretty much everything is flammable if you het it hot enough, save metal which I suppose would melt rather than burn. What should "nearly every item" be made of which would be safer than plastic?

FWIW I do think we should be reducing the amount of plastic in everday use, but not because its a fire risk.

My AIBU isn't about whether I should burn plastic wrappers or not, it's should the general public be made aware how highly flammable plastic is and that our homes, shopping malls, cinemas, offices, soft play areas etc. are full of it.

Surely everyone with half a brain is aware that plastics are geberally flammable? And please don’t burn plastic. Air quality in the UK isn’t great already with that.

If people don't know that plastic is flammable, how would they act differently if they did know?
If someone was doing something which is a fire risk (e.g. cooking, lighting candles, smoking indoors) would saying "btw there's plastic in your house and it's flammable" change their behaviour? People know that most stuff is flammable and how to avoid fires.

We occasionally burn plastic wrappers, otherwise the dogs get in the bin.

What Temperature should plastic be burnt at, we normally run our wood stove at 450C

Houses are full of flammable things...that should be common knowledge.

Plastic is made from Oil
Oil burns

Burning plastic in your home is a fast way to poison your family.

In the UK most non recyclable waste is incinerated in Combined Heat and Power plants with scrubbers that stop the toxins entering the atmosphere

Muppets who burn plastic at home are damaging the planet

My AIBU isn't about whether I should burn plastic wrappers or not,

Tough...

What Temperature should plastic be burnt at,

There isn't one in a domestic setting.

https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/can-we-safely-burn-used-plastic-objects-in-a-domestic-fireplace/

I can't believe people don't understand already that most plastics are highly flammable. But why would they be a hazard in a domestic environment in which you're not doing anything bloody stupid?

Of course plastic is highly flammable.

Burning at home is a terrible idea. You are polluting the environment and releasing toxic fumes (probably carcinogenic) into your house. At least waste companies are regulated in what they can release into the atmosphere. It must be better to put it into the rubbish than burn it like this.

Wow! Who in their right mind thinks popping plastic wrappers in the fire is ok?
Does it not occur to you that there are reasons why we don't let companies just burn their waste packaging in old oil drums (as we used to when I started work)? Could it be nuisance to others, environmental damage and health issues? Leading me to wonder if we should regulate the sale of matches more carefully!

Just when I thought there couldn't possibly be anyone stupid enough to intentionally burn plastic INSIDE their home...