Is there a more acceptable time to have a bonfire?

[Elouera]

We've bought a derlict home with a completely overgrown 1/2 acre garden. The neighbours have been lovely, so glad we are taking it on and said nothing about the 2x bonfires we have had so far (garden waste only). I've awoken to find DH has set yet another one, and plans to burn it all day.

I'd be happy to do trips back and forth to the tip, but they only allow 1 visit per day, and we'd need at least 10 car trips (they aren't accepting trailers)
Would an all day burn be better than multiple nights or should we just do trips to the tip?

The moment you get your own private planet to contaminate. Never otherwise. Get a skip.
You don't deny the existence of radioactivity just because you can't see it. You don't let off little nuclear explosions for private convenience or amusement.
Climate Emergency means you, you yourself, must stop doing things, not wait for someone else to make a law banning it. Think for yourself. Our brains need exercise.

Burning a fire all day is shitty behaviour. Go to tip or hire a skip.

This is recently grown green waste. Returning its carbon to the atmosphere by burning is a neutral activity, and better than some forms of official waste disposal which might lead to methane release.

It would be better to use its embedded energy for power generation so we get a benefit from the same carbon release if your local authority does that, but whether it would be worthwhile making ten trips to the dump by car is another question. Can anyone do the sums?

Bonfires are selfish and obnoxious, esp of green material. Hire a skip.

Agreed.

What are you burning OP?

You haven't said why it's not an option to get a skip

Presumably you are too tight to pay and that's why your neighbours have to put up with the air pollution.

Two days of burning plus the two you've already done is definitely anti social behaviour.

Are you somewhere rural? Places with larger gardens, people tend to be less bothered because smoke has time to disperse.

Check no-one has washing on the line obviously.

Also, in rural areas, the tip tends to be further away (ours is 18 miles) so bonfires in autumn are fairly normal. I'm not driving 36 miles every day to get rid of leaves. What I can't compost get burnt.

Just as a gesture of goodwill could you drop a bottle of wine on the doorstep and apologise/thank them for putting up with the bonfires?

I wouldn't mind if I knew it was neighbours that had just moved in but after a couple of times in quick succession it could get irritating, a bottle would more than make up for it though!

All day is utterly selfish.
Utterly selfish and if it's like it is here we have a beautiful sunny day and I've certainly put my dc in the garden.
I'd be appalled if someone decided to burn solidly all day.

We have a large garden with loads of waste and never had a single...solitary bonfire.
It's so selfish

I'd only ever support very fast burning of leaves, dry.

And here smoke carries, imagine some poor soul, terrified in bed struggling to breath with covid and gasping for a little fresh air from an open window and they can't get it due to endless, ongoing bonfires

My laundry is outside right now, I put a load outside late afternoon early evening after a very rainy day and before night rain: it was warm(ish) and really windy, it dried beautifully in a couple of hours even in the pitch black garden
I am South East.

I open the windows regularly as well
Kids are outside

I would be more than pissed off if my days were ruined by the bonfires next door!

It's vaguely bearable on grey damp flat day, when it's obvious nothing dries anyway, any other time is selfish and antisocial. If you end up with covid and are the unfortunate one coughing like hell, the last thing you'd want is smoke! And it's not just covid.

No one round here hangs their washing out at this time of year, I haven't seen washing on a line since about October!

OP I'd do it all in a couple of days if possible, at least that should clear most of it and then odd bits after that you can take to the tip as normal.

To those who say hire a skip, I'm not sure you appreciate how big a half acre garden is...my garden is pretty standard suburban one and I filled a large skip easily with garden rubbish earlier this year when we weren't allowed to have bonfires. It's the same amount of stuff I could have burned in about 2 hours on a big bonfire . Plus skips aren't cheap £200 round here for the largest.

No one round here hangs their washing out at this time of year, I haven't seen washing on a line since about October!

South East border of London, line washing is going on all year here.
It's not uncommon either to put laundry on airers and leave that outside. In some areas it's completely impossible, but I wouldn't dismiss the concept of laundry outside just because you cannot see it from your windows.

It's not just laundry, smoke from bonfire is a nightmare for neighbours.

I'm also in the South East, but it really doesnt seem to happen locally this time of year, I'm sure some people do but I don't see it in our area, not even in flats where in summer you often see airers on balconies etc. I'll admit I don't hang my washing out at any time but that's by the by.

If burning dry garden waste it shouldn't be too smoky. The reason I haven't had a bonfire recently (although I have loads of stuff to get rid of, far more than a skips worth) is that it's all so wet out there. Hoping at some point soon we might get a few consecutive dry days.

Re composting - we have a rat problem locally and pest control have been very clear to avoid compost heaps for this reason.

Evenings. My blood pressure always sky rockets when I see it's nice weather so do the wash and by the time I am about to take it outside nearby allotments too decided it's lovely weather.... To burn crap🤦

So evening when it's not lovely. No one has washing out and 99% has windows closed by then

Burning for two days long is just unnecessary and selfish. Get a skip / Hippo bag / do daily tip runs.

Who hires a skip for garden waste? No one unless it’s rubble or garden structures. If you had a tiny postage size stamp garden in a urban area I would say no. As you’ve got a pretty big garden I would say “ it depends “. Are you surrounded on all sides? We have a playing field and woods at the bottom of our garden so as long as we burn while the wind is blowing away from the house then that’s fine. My neighbour also has bonfires at the bottom of the garden. Late afternoon probably would ensure no washing is out - although lots of people don’t even use their line in summer let alone winter. A mixture of both the tip and burning is probably the most expedient way

Or you could compost....

Thanks for the replies. I'm firmly of the option of not having a bonfire at all- or at least no more. Its DH that thinks it fine!

I looked at hiring a garden shredder, but its ivy and brambles. I'd read that no matter how we try to compost it, there will always be small pieces which regenerate en-masse!
I've never seen a clothes line in any neighbouring property since we moved here.

TBH- I'd never considered getting a skip for green waste, but will certainly look into it.

Could you rent or buy a shredder? I'm assuming you have a mix of green and woody waste? Make a wonderful start for a compost heap!