Polluting wood burners become latest target for clean air campaigners

For years, action to tackle the UK’s toxic air has largely centred on industry and cars. Isabella Kaminski explains why air pollution campaigners are now turning their attention to domestic wood burning

Campaigners accuse glossy lifestyle magazines and interior design TV programmes of glamourising burners and skirting over their health impacts (Getty/iStock)

Hazel Agombar used to enjoy throwing logs into her wood burner and sitting in front of a roaring fire. That was until she found out how much pollution it was producing – pollution that her whole family was breathing in.

“I work in Southampton council’s active travel team helping children and families avoid transport pollution,” she explains. “But I realised the wood burner we had at home was causing more fine particulate matter than the traffic I was dealing with around schools, and I was really horrified.”  

Open fires and stoves burning wood produce tiny specks of soot known as fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which can cause lung cancer, heart damage, strokes and asthma. Young children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. The problem has become even pressing in the past year, with numerous studies linking long-term exposure to PM2.5 to an increase in coronavirus deaths.