There are certain areas in Hungary where inhabitants has serious difficulties heating their homes, mainly due to financial reasons. One such problematic spot is the Sajó Valley region. Residents burn any burnable material to warm their poorly insulated buildings. Because they can’t buy the right quality fuel, they burn wood, garbage, tires, clothes, waste paper, construction waste, PET bottles found in their inefficient heating utensils — in fact, anything that can add a little warmth. Unfortunately, the families not always acquire this fuel in a completely legal way, thieving wood from surrounding forests is not uncommon, searching for coal in pits dug into the ground, neither the theft of burnable materials from abandoned buildings.This kind of heating, apart from the fact of not providing enough heat, is extremely harmful to the environment as toxic substances (mainly sulfur), dust and ash are also generated and released into the air creating a serious health hazard in the area.
