Calls for action as glass and barbecues spark fires during heatwave

Keep Britain Tidy today repeated its calls for the Government to introduce legislation to ban disposable, single-use barbecues and tackle the dangers of littered glass.

Fires over the past few days have highlighted the catastrophic impact these two items can have on the environment and the very real risk they present for people and wildlife.

Abandoned, smouldering single-use barbecues and littered glass are among the main causes of the thousands of grass and open land fires recorded around the UK this summer, harming the environment and putting pressure on our stretched emergency services.

A fire was started on Saddleworth Moors near Oldham by a disposable barbecue on Monday, and London Fire Brigade, which has attended more than 1,000 grass and open land fires since the beginning of June, has called for a temporary ban on them in parks.

Keep Britain Tidy is going one step further and reiterating its plea for the Government to ban single-use disposable barbecues outright, as well as repeating calls for glass to be included in the upcoming Deposit Return Scheme.

With top scientists predicting that climate change will result in more extreme weather incidents like we’ve seen this week, we all need to take steps to reduce the risk of wildfires.

Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: “Enough is enough! How many more fires started by abandoned barbecues or carelessly discarded glass bottles do we have to see before action is taken?

“Unless we outlaw the sale of disposable barbecues and introduce a comprehensive deposit return scheme that would remove littered glass from our environment, both these dangerous forms of litter will remain a significant risk to our environment and a potential threat to life.

“We are facing a climate crisis and we need to act now, where we can, with immediate measures to cut the risks we are facing. A ban on single-use barbecues and the inclusion of glass in a deposit return scheme are simple measures that could make an immediate difference.”