Bonfires and Smoke Nuisance

Please consider the alternatives before lighting a bonfire.

What’s wrong with a garden bonfire?

Bonfires can cause a nuisance to neighbours – each year MVDC deals with over 100 complaints about garden bonfires;

• Fires can spread from garden bonfires to fences, trees and property;
• Garden bonfires create dioxins and other toxic pollutants; likely to upset any of your neighbours who grow food in their gardens;
• Smoke and smells from bonfires can aggravate respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis and affect those with heart complaints;
• Bonfires produce carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming; and
• Animals often take shelter in piles of garden waste, such as prepared bonfires.

So, please think carefully about the risks before you allow a bonfire to be lit in your garden and consider the alternatives which include:

• signing up to to the MVDC Garden Waste scheme; and
• taking your garden waste to one of the local Community Recycling Centres.

If you have confidential papers to dispose of, rather than burn the papers, the Joint Waste Services team ask you to consider using a cross cut shredder and either place shreddings in:

• your home composting bin, advising you to aim for a 50:50 mix of “green” materials (eg fruit and vegetables) and “brown” materials (eg leaves, shredded paper and prunings); or
• a paper bag, envelope or cardboard box before putting in your recycling container or, if you have too much to fit into your recycling bin, take it to a local community recycling centre’. Joint Waste Services do not advise to place it in the bin loose as on a windy day it is prone to blowing away and causing littering of the surroundings.

If you do have building work underway at your property please take a few moments to check the guidance provided by the Environmental Health team at MVDC and bear in mind, when reading the guidance, that for the duration of any building works at your property, any bonfire lit can be classified as a “bonfire on a commercial site”.

Update last updated Thursday 25th September 2026