On 02/08/2011 17:24, rufus wrote:
Given concern about pollution, recycling, energy conservation, etc I
wondered how widely local authorities in UK have banned the burning of
garden rubbish? Locally, I have seen tobacco smokers being driven back
into their workplaces by clouds of smoke from garden bonfires!

I only ever burn stuff that is tinder dry, on a day when the wind is
away from habitation and with enough airspace that it flash burns. The
snag is that this can alarm the neighbours as the flames go quite high.

I did once get the fire brigade called out to one of my garden bonfires
of bone dry raspberry canes. By the time they arrived it was a small
innocent looking pile of grey ash in front of the greenhouse. They were
surprisingly magnanimous about it considering it was a Sunday afternoon.

There is almost no smoke if you do it right. People who set fire to huge
piles of soggy wet leaves in autumn and leave them to smoulder forever
annoy me too. Causing unnecessary smoke pollution is an offence but
seldom prosecuted. I don't live in a smokeless zone so I can even burn
real coal...

OTOH I don't see why nicotine addicts should not suffer for their
harmful addiction. It would not be legal to sell tobacco today if the
toxicology and harm done by smoking it was properly taken into account.

That they are all outside puffing away frantically in a half built bus
shelter mid winter at -10C shows just how powerful the addiction is!

Regards,
Martin Brown