Burning vs Landfill?

[Rich.H]

Bit of a science question here but which does more environmental damage as far as rubbish is concerned, burning or landfill?

Now to be clear I don't mean everything, I already compost the majority of my waste and recycle a large amount of what's left. However even after trying to think of thrifty uses for items and so on there is always an amount of plain "rubbish" come bin day. Generally in my house this all comprises of things that will very easily burn down to a small doggy ban full of ash to get thrown out rather than perhaps a carrier bag full of stuff before hand.

I realise that burning many things does give off gases and such that are harmful to the atmosphere but yet so is the results of tons of rubbish in landfill, so can anyone here with a better level of education than me offer a technical response to which does more damage?

[boboff]

My opinion, not science, if you burn it at home, especially if you get the use of the heat for cooking or heating, then it is best to burn it.

My rationale is that this generates energy for you, and does not use anymore energy to transfer it to a land fill.

[Green Aura]

I think the question is what sort of stuff you want to burn. Plastic bags will burn but at the relatively low temperatures of a domestic fire it will give off all sorts of nasties. Better stick those things in the bin.

If you're burning other (not nasty) stuff than you can put that on the compost to.