NCT05130632

Plastic Waste and Human Health Effects in Guatemala

Combustion of Plastic Waste and Human Health Effects in Guatemala

• Status: Active Not Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 400 (actual)
• Sponsor: Emory University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 15 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Ecolectivos is a type-1 hybrid-effectiveness-implementation study that uses a village-level cluster randomized controlled trial design. The goal of this study in rural Guatemala is to assess intervention strategies to reduce plastic burning in 8 intervention villages compared to 8 control villages. The intervention group participants will participate in 12 weekly behavioral working group sessions; the control group will not receive any specific activities. Two hundred women of reproductive age and other community members from these villages will be enrolled in each group. The follow-up period is 12 months. Data will be collected via interviews, focus groups, air pollution sampling, plastic waste collection, urinary biomarker assessments, and ambient air sampling. Program evaluation and results dissemination will occur in the last year of the project.

Detailed description

Household air pollution from solid fuel combustion (e.g., wood) is a major environmental risk factor in low- and middle-income countries, accounting for an estimated 2.6 million deaths annually (World Health Organization, 2018). The contribution of plastic waste incineration in household fires has not been quantified. This is problematic for countries like Guatemala, where 71% of households burn waste as a primary means of disposal (Government of the Republic of Guatemala 2019). Plastic waste incineration is a critical, but understudied, public health and environmental hazard, as communities are inundated with cheap plastic without the means of safely disposing of plastic waste. This study aims to conduct a type 1 hybrid-effectiveness-implementation study that uses a village-level cluster-randomized controlled trial design to evaluate the uptake and sustainability of intervention strategies to reduce the use, recycling, and repurposing of plastic that will lead to reductions in household-level plastic burning in selected villages in rural Guatemala. The 200 intervention group participants and other interested community members will participate in 12 weekly behavioral working group sessions. Each intervention community will commit to alternatives to burning plastic and drive initiatives they can achieve over the next 9 months. The 200 control group participants will not receive any specific activities until year 5, when dissemination of results will include control villages. Primary endpoints include personal exposure to air pollution, including particulate matter, black carbon, and other compounds produced while burning solid fuels and plastic waste. Secondary endpoints are assessed using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) implementation science framework.

Conditions

• Environmental Exposure

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	The community working group	The intervention consists of educational working group (WG) sessions over 12 weeks. Eight core modules discussing essential elements (such as main problems of solid waste management, health effects of exposure to burning plastic, sustainable alternatives to plastic litter) and four periphery modules to help identify community-driven interventions to reduce plastic burning in household fires, consume less plastic, recycle, and repurpose plastic, will be held. Participants will prioritize one task that can be attained in the next 9 months, with the guidance of community workers (promotoras), such as: * engaging in a community clean-up * starting an organic compost pile free of plastic waste * training on community recycling, focusing on plastics recycling * making organic soaps, to use for personal grooming or washing clothes, eliminating plastic packaging * creating materials out of plastic, like bottle planters

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-01-31
• Primary completion: 2026-05-30
• Completion: 2026-05-30
• First posted: 2021-11-23
• Last updated: 2026-03-11

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Guatemala