Stove owners face coal and wet wood ban
COAL and wet wood are to be banned for domestic fires from next year to cut down on deadly air pollution.
Households will have to burn dry wood or manufactured “smokeless” solid fuels, said George Eustice, the Environment Secretary.
The move will be a blow to more than one million households with wood burning stoves.
But the Government says such stoves and coal fires are the single largest source of microscopic particles known as pollutant PM2.5, which can enter deep into the lungs and the blood stream.
Long-term exposure can cause lung cancer, heart disease, strokes and asthma. Up to 40,000 die prematurely due to toxic air every year.
Bagged house coal will be phased out by February next year, with loose coal from approved coal merchants by 2023. Sales of wet wood in units of about two cubic yards will also be restricted from next February, allowing for stocks to be used up.
Larger quantities will have advice on drying it before burning from this date.
Makers of solid fuels will need to prove that they are low in sulphur and emit only small amounts of smoke.
Mr Eustice, said the measures will mean “we can all play a part in improving the health of millions of people”. The British Heart Foundation said it was a “vital first step towards protecting the nation’s health from toxic air”.
Professor Stephen Holgate of the Royal College of Physicians, said: “Inhaling combustion particles from any source is harmful, but more so than ever when it’s directly within your home.”
The Stove Industry Alliance said there are more than a million wood burning stoves and fireplaces in the UK, with 175,000 more added every year. Its website said modern stoves are “virtually carbon neutral” using current-burn technology.