Burning leaves, burning lungs

The high cost of ‘clean’ streets

Sir,

That small, crackling heap of dry leaves at the corner of the street is not a harmless act of tidiness. It is a public nuisance set alight. A deliberate act of air pollution that we have somehow come to accept as routine.

The justification is always the same: “It’s just leaves.” But what rises from that pile is not just smoke. It is particulate matter, carbon monoxide and toxic fumes.

In cities already burdened by vehicle emissions, this added layer of pollution is far from insignificant. It drifts into homes, settles in lungs and affects children, the elderly and those with respiratory conditions who have no choice but to breathe it in. Burning leaves does not eliminate waste. It merely transforms it into airborne pollution.

This practice is a lazy response to a natural process. Leaves are meant to decompose. Even in urban areas, there are better and more responsible alternatives than burning.

Leaves can be shredded and returned to the soil as natural fertiliser through mulch-mowing. Streets can have simple community compost enclosures that convert so-called waste into nutrient-rich compost for parks and gardens. They can even be collected and shared with local gardeners who need dry organic matter for composting.

Civic responsibility is reflected in small, everyday decisions. If cleaning your frontage forces your neighbour to shut their windows against smoke, it is not cleanliness. Rather, it is inconvenience and harm passed on to others. We cannot voice concern about worsening air quality one day and contribute to it the next.

It is time to stop treating this as normal. Clean surroundings should not come at the cost of polluted air and the basic right to breathe clean air should never be compromised.

– Dr. G. Rathnakar, Associate Dean-Academics,  JSS Science & Technology University, Mysuru, 16.2.2026

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