Assessment of Dioxin-Like POP’s Emissions and Human Exposure Risk from Open Burning of Municipal Solid Wastes in Streets and Dumpyard Fire Breakouts

India, a highly populated economy in transition generates huge quantity of municipal solid wastes and its management is posing great challenges. Infrastructural limitations force the urban local bodies to rely on traditional routes such as open dumpyards and landfills, where incidents of massive fire breakouts are often reported. In places where the collection system fails, the public seeks a much easier option of open burning of wastes in streets and households. The study reports a comparative assessment of 17 PCDD/Fs and 12 dl-PCBs emitted to air and residue during the repetitive incidents of massive fire breakouts at a municipal solid waste dumpyard and localized street waste burning in cities of India. The study also evaluated the direct exposure routes viz. inhalation as well as dermal and predicts the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks to the receiving population. The observed PCDD/F levels in the ambient air and burned residue samples ranged from 2.7 to 41.4 pgTEQ/m³ and 79.8 to 860 ngTEQ/kg, while that of dl-PCB varied from 0.2 to 2.3 pgTEQ/m³ and 6.0 to 46.2 ngTEQ/kg respectively. The dermal, as well as the inhalation daily exposure doses were estimated and the non-carcinogenic hazard indices of the children were found to be in levels of concern at two of the street burning sites while for adults the levels were found to be within the threshold limit. The cumulative Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) values ranged from 2 × 10^–6 to 2 × 10^–4 suggesting moderate to low risk to cancer or cancer-linked illnesses to exposed individuals. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].