Can someone help me out concerning the dioxins emitted from burning leaves/trash?
Definitely, the things you’re smelling are toxic. You don’t have to be visibly in the smoke to be inhaling toxics – most of the ones you mentioned are invisible, the smoke it mostly particulate pollution (soot, etc.), which probably isn’t harmful from leaves, but probably is from plastic. Any exposure to dioxins and other toxics is worse than no exposure, and if you’re getting it regularly, it’s probably not good for you. Basically, the more exposure you get the more likely you are to have some related health problems. It sounds pretty full on to me. I’d be politely asking my neighbours to stop. Show them how composting is good for your garden, and try to find out why they aren’t recycling or land-filling their other garbage (landfill isn’t great, but it’s a lot better than burning it). It might be the case that waste services are lacking, or too expensive for people in your area to make use of. Lobby your local government to make it easier for people to not **** the planet.
