how many bonfires a year can one have in there garden?

cypher007

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82154926#Comment_82154926

this was some very dry, as left for 3 months, garden waste (not grass) and a couple of IKEA cardboard boxes.

cypher007

the council has a bin for garden waste but we cant get some weeds/branches in it and they want about £50 a year for it. its just easier to burn it once or twice a year.

eddddy

In what capacity did the council write to you? For example:

1) Was it the Housing Department - because you are you a council tenant, a council leaseholder, the owner of an ex-council house with covenants, etc?

2) Or was it the Environmental Health Department?

If it's option 2, then it will be a question of whether your bonfires are a Statutory Nuisance according to the Environmental Protection Act

If it's option 1, there might be rules in your tenancy agreement, lease, Deed of Covenant, etc that relate to bonfires. In that case you need to look at whatever rule the council thinks you are breaking.

The rules for option 1 could be more strict than for option 2. For example, there could be a "no bonfires" rule.

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born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82154926#Comment_82154926

Depends on council. We have dedicated garden waste bin for grass cuttings & other plant based stuff.

cypher007

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82154954#Comment_82154954

option 2. EVP act 1990.

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82154990#Comment_82154990

Most councils now provide a garden waste service - the collected material is usually composted.

The point was there is some garden waste which shouldn't be composted, and as you can't put it in the 'rubbish' bin the only 'legal' option is to burn it on-site, provided that is permitted in the locality.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82154938#Comment_82154938

Or just take it to the local recycling centre. I have a biggish garden, with plenty of waste, including branches, and I take it all there. ( at same time as other stuff).

Baldytyke88

I believe in my local area, the only thing that you can burn is garden waste, with the exception of bonfire night.

Burning commercial waste is definitely illegal and burning domestic waste is also against the rules.

Ectophile

There are only a handful of things that shouldn't be composted. Japanese Knotweed is the main one. It's counted as hazardous waste. All the common pernicious weeds are killed by high temperature composting.

I keep empty compost bags. Whenever I'm attacking the garden, I stuff the cuttings into compost bags. When the pile of bags gets out of hand, I stick them in the car and head down the dump. No cost apart from a bit of diesel.

All the green waste gets shredded, high temperature composted, and sold by the council.

FreeBear

Some garden waste, e.g. canker infested prunings or marestail roots, are best incinerated on site.

For some of us, transporting garden waste to the local recycling centre is not an option (lack of suitable vehicles). Whilst a garden waste bin isn't hugely expensive (£73 per year for me), there is a list of stuff that can't be put in it - Invasive plants or toxic species such as Yew, Japanese Knotweed, Rhododendron, Ragwort, Hemlock, and Himalayan Balsam. And grass cuttings treated with Clopyralid or Aminopyralid weed killer. Branches over 100mm are also not permitted.

But for me, any branches over 75mm are generally cut in to ~300mm lengths to be used in the stove (once suitably dry).

In answer to the headline question, I would consider one or two per year to be acceptable as long as you are not on a modern crowded estate. I'm fortunate to live in an area built to the recommendations in the Tudor Report of 1918. 12 houses per acre (or 30 per hectare), so a relatively large garden with space for a bonfire on November 5th.