Municipality of Utrecht bans wood burning
You tackle the following challenges:
General information
Although many people find a wood fire cozy, one in three Dutch people experience nuisance from wood burning. Wood burning releases substances such as particulate matter and soot, which are bad for your health. The municipality of Utrecht therefore wants to ban the lighting of fires outdoors from 2025, and also the burning of wood indoors from 2030. The municipality is going a step further than, for example, the municipalities of Amersfoort, Voorst and Venray, where a partial ban on wood burning applies. There, wood may only be burned if the stoking indicator is set to yellow.
The ban in Utrecht stems from concerns about the health effects of wood burning, but also has to do with the new advisory values drawn up by the WHO in 2021. These are much lower than the European limit values , and Utrecht hopes that the ban on wood burning will take a step towards the WHO advisory values.
Tips
- Are you bothered by wood smoke? Then talk to your neighbours. On the website Problems with your neighbours you will find tips on how to have such a conversation.
- Do you still want to turn on the wood stove? Then first check the stoking guide . In low wind, foggy weather or poor air quality, burning wood is extra unhealthy and polluting. You can also report any nuisance via the website.
- If you are going to burn wood indoors, check out these 8 tips to do it as cleanly as possible. For example, only burn dry wood, open a window and let the fire burn out by itself.
- If you stoke regularly, have the chimney swept regularly (at least once a year). Good maintenance of the stove is important.
More information
- Honest about wood burning (Milieu Centraal, Netherlands)
- Information about wood smoke (RIVM, Netherlands)
- Preventing nuisance caused by wood burning (GGD Leefomgeving, Netherlands)
- Toolkit Wood burning by private individuals, how to prevent nuisance? (Anzion Advies and ConCEPD, commissioned by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the Netherlands)
- Fire alert (RIVM, Netherlands)
- Heating guide (Atlas Living Environment, Netherlands)
- Wood burning by private households (Clean Air Agreement, Netherlands)
