They – not the EU – are behind the ban on bonfires

Published 14 April 2024 at 08.41

Law & Justice. It is not the EU that has decided that you can no longer burn rice and twigs on your own property. Instead, the new ban is a completely domestic construction by the Kristersson government and climate minister Romina Pourmokhtari, shows a review of Union law and Swedish government decisions that Fria Tider has made.

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Ahead of May 1 this year, the Environmental Protection Agency has gone out to the media and warned that it is now forbidden to burn rice, twigs and other garden waste on one's own property.

According to the authority, the ban applies throughout the EU from the turn of the year to everyone who has not received a special dispensation.

On April 6, Sveriges Radio further reported the authority's information and claimed, among other things, that “the EU is putting a stop” and that since the January 1 is the requirement that garden waste “instead be recycled, something that all EU countries must apply”.

The problem? That is not true.

The Swedish ban on burning garden waste was introduced by a government decision by Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari (L) on 22 December 2022.

In a press release from the same day, Pourmokhtari wrote that the new rules mean, among other things, that “whoever treats biowaste must prioritize material recycling” instead of incinerating the waste. In the press release, the rule­ changes were described as an “implementation of the waste directive's requirements for handling bio-waste”.

However, a look at the current EU directive shows that it does not contain any requirement for member states to prohibit people from burning such as rice, leaves or twigs on their own land.

Only in one place, in Article 22, is there a requirement dealing with the incineration of bio-waste, such as branches and twigs, and it states that Member States “at needs” shall “encourage” such waste to be collected and composted. The member states themselves decide how the promotion should take place and there is no requirement to ban other alternatives, such as burning.

Friia Tider is seeking climate minister Romina Pourmokhtari for a comment.