'Plastic farmers' in Indonesia unaware of the dangers of burning waste

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For decades, locals in East Java in Indonesia have been burning plastic waste but may not have been aware of the health consequences.

Ahmad Yani spent hours each day sifting through piles of rubbish, searching for recyclable materials to sell to help make ends meet.

For decades, his family and other people in his village in East Java in Indonesia would buy truckloads of waste residue from factories recycling imported paper and cardboard.

They would spread the waste on the ground, and separate plastics from paper and cardboard.

The paper would be sold back to the recycling factories and most of the plastics to industries that needed fuel for furnaces.

"It had become a source of livelihood for many low-income residents," Mr Yani said, adding he would make about 300,000 rupiah ($24) a month.

Any plastics still left over would be used in his village to fire limestone kilns, to produce building materials to sell or use.

Mr Yani said among the rubbish he noticed food sachets and cat and dog food packaging with Australian labels as well as labels of countries in Europe.

While burning plastic has helped support the family's livelihood, the smoke from their home and neighbouring households may be having devastating health impacts.

He said some people he knew who had operated the limestone kilns had died from respiratory diseases and causes were never determined.

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