EcoSuperior Environmental Programs

"If you're burning garbage, you're making poison!"

When spring approaches and the snow banks disappear, its time for cleaning up the back yard and maybe getting rid of some unwanted junk from the basement and garage too. In rural areas spring clean-up often involves building a big burn pile of brush and other trash. Some folks might pour on the dirty oil from their last oil change or even throw an old worn out tire on the pile! Aside from the obvious fire hazards associated with backyard burning, there’s a serious environmental health hazard here too.

Burning household garbage is a well established practice, especially in rural areas, and it’s time to break the habit. Many people think they are doing the right thing by burning their own trash, saving space in the landfill. It’s tempting, when the closest garbage dump is miles away and only open limited hours each week, to start up the burn barrel in the backyard on Saturday morning. It’s easy to toss in some trash along with the wood when you stoke up the woodstove at home or cottage. Outdoor woodstoves have become another convenient way for rural homeowners to dispose of rubbish. Summer is the time for camping and the evening campfire a much-loved ritual for many families. Please don’t use your fire pit as a garbage disposal unit. Whether it’s a woodstove or campfire use just enough crumpled newspaper and dry kindling to start the fire, then burn only dry seasoned firewood.

Burning any type of garbage, including packaging, plastics, treated wood, used oil, even newspaper and junk mail, releases a range of pollutants into the atmosphere. Home garbage fires smoulder and burn at temperatures that create prime conditions for the formation of dioxins, a particularly nasty family of chlorinated organic chemicals. They drift in the smoke and then settle, contaminating water, soil and plant surfaces. The dioxins then become incorporated in the food chain, first in the plants and then in the animals that graze on those plants. Dioxins become concentrated in the fatty tissues of animals. The higher we eat on the food chain and the more fat we consume in our diet, the more we are exposed to these dioxins. Exposure to dioxins has been linked to a host of health problems including increased risk of cancer, developmental problems in children, and harm to the immune system.

So what can we do? First of all, reduce the amount of waste you generate in your household. When shopping, look for items with less packaging. Buy durable, reusable goods, not disposables. Seek out local recycling options. Compost organic waste such as food scraps, leaves and grass. A chipper can be used to turn small branches and other trimmings into a great mulching material for perennial beds and garden paths. Use the nearest landfill site for whatever real garbage remains. Waste reduction is not about reducing garbage to smoke and ashes. Burning waste is a waste of the precious energy and resources that were used to manufacture the product in the first place.

Enjoy the special warmth and beauty that comes from the hearth and the campfire, but don’t contaminate the air we breathe and the health of our loved ones by burning your garbage. When we’re dealing with garbage, we need to remember the six Rs: RETHINK , REFUSE , REDUCE , REUSE , REPAIR , RECYCLE . There is no B for Burn.

For more information call EcoSuperior at (807) 624 2140.

Page last updated on Thursday, April 01, 2010