Hackney urges residents not to burn wood this winter

Hackney Council has joined a London-wide campaign to highlight the impact fireplaces and wood burning stoves have on the city's toxic air. 

The campaign forms part of Hackney’s ambitious new draft air quality action plan, and the Mayor's Air Quality Fund funded London Wood Burning Project (LWBP) which aims to improve awareness of the health impacts of domestic wood burning in the capital.

Wood burning is increasingly recognised as a major source of fine particle matter air pollution in London, a known carcinogen which can cause asthma, heart disease and other serious illnesses affecting our lungs, hearts and brains. 

Current evidence suggests that domestic wood burning contributes 15% of London’s fine particle matter air pollution.

According to a LWBP health impact evaluation, every year fine particle matter pollution has the following health impacts:

• 3,400 life-years lost
• 3 weeks reduction in life expectancy
• 284 equivalent deaths
• 80 respiratory hospital admissions
• 60 new cases of stroke
• 50 new cases of coronary heart disease
• 30 new cases of lung cancer
• 90 new cases of asthma in children

We’re urging residents to give up wood burning, so we can tackle London’s toxic air and create a healthier Hackney for everyone.

Many people have a romantic view of wood burning and may not be aware of the potential harm it has on health, both to ourselves, to our neighbours, and to the environment. I know I did until I saw the harm that wood smoke causes. Every year stoves and open fires produce vast amounts of both planet-heating carbon dioxide and toxic particulate matter that contributes to the premature deaths of thousands of Londoners through respiratory illness, cancer, and heart disease.

Cllr Sarah Young, Hackney Council Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport

Hackney residents can find out more about tackling air pollution here. 

Read more about the London Wood Burning Project here.