The government is lifting the ban on May bonfires after Fria Tider's review

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Published April 16, 2024 at 8:48 p.m.

Review. The government will change the waste regulation so that it is clear that you can burn rice and twigs in your own garden in the future. This is stated by Minister of Economic Affairs Ebba Busch (KD) after Fria Tider's review.

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The ban on May bonfires

  • They – not the EU – are behind the ban on bonfires
  • Sweden bans May bonfires

This weekend Fria Tider published a high-profile review of the Environmental Protection Agency's claim that burning rice and twigs on own plot has been banned throughout the EU on 1 January this year for anyone who has not received a special dispensation.

The review revealed that the claim was false and that the ban was in fact a Swedish ban that had been drawn up by the Ministry of Climate and Economic Affairs, where Minister of Economic Affairs Ebba Busch (KD) and Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari (L) are responsible ministers.

But now the government is changing its mind on the matter.

Ebba Busch states on Monday that the waste regulation must be reviewed and that it will be clarified so that it is clear that you can burn leaves in your own garden in the future.

“These are new rules but not a major change compared to how it worked before. We see that these can be interpreted in different ways and the rules will therefore be clarified,” writes Ebba Busch at X.

According to the minister, a ban on May bonfires on one's own property would be “the height of political greed” and lacking in reality.

“Don't worry – May bonfires will be lit on the eve of the Walpurgis fair”, writes Ebba Busch.

Frida Rudsander, responsible land and environmental lawyer at the Ministry of Climate and Business's legal secretariat, confirms to Samnytt that the regulations are currently being reviewed.

From Samnytt's article it also appears that it was the Environmental Protection Agency that took the initiative for the Swedish requirement to garden waste may not be burned without a dispensation. The Environmental Protection Agency assessed that this was required to fulfill the EU's waste directive, even though the directive does not contain any such requirement.

– We have made our assessment of what is needed to fulfill the requirements of the directive, says Erika Nygren, head of unit at the waste and chemicals unit at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, to Samnytt.