Cambodia bans burning of rice straw, garbage to reduce air pollution

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodia has issued a directive to ban people living in rural areas from burning paddy straw and garbage in their fields to reduce air pollution, the Khmer Times reported on Monday (Dec 14).

Neth Pheaktra, Ministry of Environment spokesman, said according to a survey, the main sources and activities that cause an increase of the concentration of inert particles are emissions from industrial plants, vehicles using diesel and other fuels, forest fires, burning of grass fields, burning agricultural waste, forest clearing, burning of rice straw, burning of solid waste in the open and landfills, and dust from construction sites.