With Halloween just around the corner, communities nationwide are preparing for the time old tradition of lighting bonfires to celebrate Halloween. While traditionally wood and straw were used for bonfires there is increasing evidence that individuals are using Halloween as an opportunity to dispose of waste illegally.
Providing household waste material for burning in a Halloween bonfire is committing a criminal offence. Materials such as tyres, pallets, sofas, mattresses, furniture and ordinary household rubbish are often burnt releasing harmful dioxins into the air damaging our health and the environment.
Donegal County Council is aware that businesses may also be supplying waste materials such as tyres and pallets to local communities to burn on bonfire night. This practice is unacceptable, under the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations, 2007 all businesses now have an obligation to recycle specified waste streams. Tyres in particular are frequently burnt on bonfires even though they produce toxic fumes, releasing dioxins into the air damaging our health and the environment.
The burning waste material contributes to over 50% of all dioxin emissions in Ireland. The term phrased for the illegally burning of waste is Backyard Burning.
Backyard Burning – The facts!
Backyard Burning , the uncontrolled burning of waste, releases toxic pollutants into the air without treatment or filter damaging our health and our environment.
Typically, waste burned at home can include paper, cardboard, textiles, timbers, food, garden clippings, synthetics such as plastics and even glass, metal and household chemicals. The waste is burned at a temperature of about 200-400ºC - the temperature at which dioxins are formed and released directly into the air. For dioxins to be destroyed waste needs to be burned at much higher temperatures - in excess of 850ºC – and under controlled conditions.
Often materials that seem innocuous, such as wood or paper are treated with chemicals such as paint, glue and preservatives that can emit toxic fumes when burned. The amount of toxins released from backyard burning depends on the composition of the waste being burnt, the temperature of the fire and the supply of oxygen.
It is important for the public to remember that there is a long list of pollutants that can potentially be generated by backyard burning regardless of whether the waste is burned in piles in the back of the garden, in barrels or in open pits.
The following constitutes Backyard Burning:
- burning waste in a barrel or exposed in heap in a yard or garden
- burning in a purchased ready ‘home incinerator’
- burning commercial waste on a business premises or farmyard
- burning waste on a building site
Donegal County Council again urges local communities to enjoy Halloween Night responsibly – without bonfires!