News

National Farmers' Union calls for ban on Chinese lanterns

01 February 2010

The National Farmers' Union has called for the release of Chinese lanterns at outdoor events to be banned.

The paper lanterns with small candles inside can float for several miles before crashing to the ground and becoming litter.

Farmers have reported that animals and livestock are becoming injured and even killed by the remains of the lanterns that are mistaken for food when found littering fields.

As with balloons and fireworks that are released at outdoor events, Chinese lanterns fall back down to earth and become a source of litter.

These lanterns can form part of a special occasion such as a wedding or sporting event and can be a very attractive form of entertainment however, they ultimately end up as litter.

Nicola Peate from Keep Britain Tidy said: “We don’t want to be killjoys and understand that these lanterns can form part of a really special day.

“However, it is clear from the information provided by the National Farmers' Union that lanterns cause a very serious litter problem and seriously injure and even kill animals.

“We would ask people to think about this when they are planning their outdoor event and consider that whilst the lanterns may look pretty for half and hour or so the effect that they are having once they have fallen to the ground is very worrying.”

As with balloons we encourage people keep these decorative lanterns secured in some way so that they can be enjoyed without floating off into the sunset to become someone else’s litter problem.

Pat Stanley, who breeds pedigree cattle near Coalville, Leicestershire, said of the lanterns: "They may be very pretty, but they're incredibly dangerous and I would like to see them banned.

"If you went fly-tipping rubbish in the countryside and somebody caught you doing it you could be prosecuted. People can launch this rubbish into the air, it can cause tremendous damage and nobody knows where it's come from."

Keep Britain Tidy supports the introduction of wire free lanterns which although would still cause litter would be less dangerous to animals and livestock.

Comments

Comment on this article

• Bev Varney, West Midlands

  To-day I found one of these fallen lanterns in one of my paddocks. Luckily I no longer have any livestock in these paddocks, but just 5m in two different directions there are horses and ponies which if one of these lanterns had landed in their paddocks it could have caused problems. I was surprised at the size of this lantern (80cm of paper lantern) - it was fully intact with a wire frame and a charred piece of foam. Also owners of thatched properties may need to be concerned about floating lanterns in the sky. In the end people are just releasing litter into the air, with little thought to the possible consequences of their actions.

• Lesley Cryer, North West

  Chinese Lanterns may look pretty and be a romantic notion, but they are yet another example of people not thinking through the consequences of their actions. Do they even think where the lanterns might end up once they have gone out of sight? Similar to all of the helium-filled ballons that are launched into the skies - they come back to the ground and become litter. Many of those sending lanterns and balloons into the sky would never drop litter on the ground, so why don't they realise that they are launching litter into the air? (How long before a fire is casued by one of these lanterns?)

• Daniel Horne, East Midlands

  If there were made like authentic chinese lanterns (paper and wood) they wouldn't be such a problem as they are biodegradable and not harmful to farm animals. Unfortunately the chinese lanterns available here are made with a metal wire frame (cheaper, more durable and easier to manufacture). So maybe the Farmers Union should be looking to ban metal frame chinese lanterns rather than all chinese lanterns? A ban on all chinese lanterns is as unlikely to succeed as proposing a ban on fireworks. On a positive note, I predict that they are likely to go out of fashion as quickly as they came in.