alt Hacker NewsOne more reason to look to an electrically heated future. Where I live the air becomes unpleasant in winter as some neighbours heat their homes by burning what i can only assume are old tires and horse carcasses.
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I remember as a kid visiting the home of a relative who had an old oven for wood/coal heating, even though the primary heating was now a gas (natural gas not gasoline) heater.
The old oven remained though, and was used as a self-emptying trash can. When it filled up, a fire was lit to empty it. I don't remember what the sorting rules were (I assume "does it burn well and not smell up the apartment too badly when lighting it") and how common plastic packaging was back then, but I'm sure that the emissions coming out from the chimney were not a concern.
Burning clean dry wood in a modern well maintained wood stove is surprisingly efficient and relatively clean (+ renewable)
Of course if you burn trash none of that matters, but it's already illegal in pretty much any advanced societies.