To think bonfires are antisocial and unevessary?

[QuestioningStuff]

Why do people need to have them? If you have stuff you need to get rid of surely you can just take it to the dump or have it collected?

2 gardens over the back from mine someone has had one going since 7pm. My whole road stinks. I've just had someone ring my doorbell worried my house was on fire because the flames and ashes are coming over the top of the house.

It's been 3 and a half hours now and it doesn't appear to be dying down. It's getting bigger if anything. I won't be able to sleep until it's gone out for fear of us being burnt alive in our sleep.

AIBU to think this is just not on? Why do people do this?

[missmartha]

Gardens in high density areas are horrible and unnecessary. They're actually illegal too where I live and good thing.


The air quality in town centres isn't good at the best of times, people burning their rubbish can make it horrendous.

[UseHerName]

Ahahaha you should live in Northern Ireland-our bonfires are especially antisocial since the Irish tricolour is burned on the top of it !

[yazz21]

YABU. Unless a bonfire is happening in the middle of the day, when people might have washing out. Or has materials like plastic etc that causes thick black smoke. I don't see the problem with people burning, what is most likely garden rubbish, on their own property.

Seems very over dramtic, that you stayed awake, even though you were tired, because your neighbour was having a bonfire.

[QuestioningStuff]

yazz perhaps but I suffer from bad anxiety and am a lone parent to two small children. After people ringing my door saying it looked like my house was on fire it stressed me out.

[EponasWildDaughter]

It is a worry if a neighbor is having a bonfire which seems out of control, and all the boundaries are wooden fences! especially if it's burning on into the night.

I can understand why the OP was stressed.

[yazz21]

Sorry!

Since your OP didn't mention any problems with anxiety. I answered on the basis that there were no anxiety issues.

Now knowing that you do have anxiety problems. Of course your reaction is completely understandable

[ceebelle83]

Yeah, I certainly DO NOT miss living in Belfast in July!! There is little more intimidating/scummy/antisocial than those bonfires...in the name of 'culchure'.

[muminhants1]

YANBU. I don't know why they are permitted. Anti-social and potentially very dangerous.

Either take your waste to the tip or pay to have it collected.

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Those who say they have to do it because they have a big garden would manage if they weren't allowed to. I live in California and we can't burn refuse because of the wildfire risk and people manage.

[ragged]

Tip refuse probably goes into landfills wasting good land and creating methane (potent greenhouse gas). Plus the energy used to transport green waste to tip means more GHGs. If lucky, might be able to put some into a green waste bin to be composted.

Once every 18 months or so we build up enough woody (usually thorny) waste that we can't burn it all in wood burner & have a small bonfire for maybe an hour. 3.5 hours like OP reports or burning tyres sounds crazy to me too. Burning piles of pallets is just a shame, fantastic fodder for home wood burners instead.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Self - they manage because other provisions are put in place I expect. We would need probably 8-10 big wheelie bins to get rid of our waste. We have a shredder but sometimes big branches can't be shredded and it's too much to take to the tip which is miles away. People keep saying people should pay to have it taken away, pay who though? I'm not aware of anyone that will come and take it away. Plus it would cost a fortune as companies are charged to dump at the tip now.

[Plomino]

I have one huge bonfire a year , as do all of my neighbours . But then that's because we are horse owners , and what we burn is ragwort , which is one of the four noxious weeds which landowners are required by law to deal with . We're not allowed to compost it , or take it off our land as it spreads like wildfire and is highly poisonous while alive , and even worse when dead . Apparently you can burn up to ten tonnes of the stuff daily , but we probably only do about a tonne a year. Every few weeks in the summer we'll get a note from someone apologising in advance !

[wonkylegs]

I would say the landscape of a typical Californian garden is somewhat different to one in England so not a fair comparison.
We compost an awful lot we have 3 x 1m2 bins but weeds and fallen wood would mean we filled at least a skip a month. We could weed kill but I don't like using the chemicals as they build up in the soil so pulling up and burning is for me a better choice.
I wouldn't burn in a town or built up area but on large rural plots its a sensible choice. We roasted marshmallows on ours today.

[LooksLikeImStuckHere]

Totally understand those burning things like ragwort.

As for taking it to the tip, have my council (UK) finally got something right? All our tips have a green refuse container and everything is recycled. Most sites recycle up to 90% of everything.

It would be pretty much the only thing that they get right if that is the case!

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Typical California garden still has big trees and shrubs, we grow a large percentage of the world's food. Currently 80% of the world's almonds for instance (soon to dwindle). We have a year long growing season for most of the state and things grow well here... mostly in winter rather than summer.

We have two compost bins and today I'm taking a large tree to the dump. We have a pickup truck but if we didn't I'd hire one. Our dump will shred and compost most garden waste (not palm tree trimmings which can be large and difficult to deal with and have to go in landfill).

Our city provides green wheelie bins that you can put a lot of your garden waste into, but cities here that don't provide those the residents have to take it to the tip or pay someone else to do it. Again, you manage.

[Echocave]

It's the starting it at lunchtime and then leaving it smoking for the entire afternoon and evening that I find really annoying with our neighbours. Why do they need a bonfire for 7 hours?!

[WayneRooneysHair]

If the weather is decent and there's no wind I will light my woodburner either Friday or Saturday, nobody has ever moaned.

[Woobeedoo]

Neighbour has 3 large cars and a kid (who can drive) who is home all day. We live a 10 minute drive from a large rubbish dump / recycling plant. Do they take their shite there? No. They leave it on their front lawn until they have a big mound and when they realise the magical rubbish pixies haven't cleared it and it's now been pee'd all over by the local foxes (and who wants fox pee in their car), they drag it to their back garden and set light to it. For several days. It stinks. I hate them.