Fifty retailers join campaign to ban disposable barbecues in New Forest

A CAMPAIGN to ban the sale of disposable barbecues around the New Forest has been given a boost after supermarket giants Waitrose and Aldi agreed to stop stocking them.

Major retailers including Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury's have already pledged not to sell the throw-away barbecues which are a huge fire risk.

Now Waitrose, which has stores in Ringwood, Christchurch and Lymington, has announced a total ban.

It said the move will also help the environment by saving 7.4 tonnes of foil and 1.1 tonnes of shrink-wrapped plastic being produced.

Aldi have also removed the product from their shelves, saying that will save 35 tonnes of single-use waste packaging a year.

Liz Fox, corporate responsibility director at Aldi UK, said: “We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment and know that many of our shoppers are increasingly looking to do the same."

Two years ago the national park authority called on businesses around the Forest to remove disposable barbecues from sale after they were blamed for causing fires.

It said rangers had to put out 60 barbecues in the area in just one day last summer. It can take 48 hours for the ashes and embers from a disposable barbecues to cool down completely.

The Co-op was the first national retailer to declare last June that they would no longer sell the items within a mile of national parks, and other major supermarket chains followed suit.

It is a huge win for a campaign that started in Brockenhurst in May 2020 when Streets Ironmongers removed disposable barbecues from sale and urged other stores in the village to do the same.

New Forest MP Dr Julian Lewis addressed parliament on the matter and a private members bill on the issue is now going through the process of becoming the law.

It would prohibit the use of disposable barbecues on open moorland and to give local authorities the power to prohibit the sale in their area.

Last year Dorset Council and BCP Council also called on local retailers to withdraw them from sale.

Barbecues, camping stoves or anything with a naked flame are no longer permitted in car parks or any areas of the Forest. All barbecue facilities at Forestry England sites have been removed.