6 May 2021
Ready to Burn Firewood
As of 1st May 2021, the Ready to Burn legislation has come into force. This new law comes under the new Air Quality Regulations. This means wood sold in units of under 2m3 needs to be certified as Ready to Burn Firewood. The sale of House Coal has also been banned.
What is Ready To Burn?
Ready to Burn is a new scheme introduced, to help reduce smoke and pollutants produced from burning. In addition to reducing emissions, it also ensures that the wood is legally sourced. Each wood supplier must sign up to the scheme and send samples of their logs. The log samples go through testing to ensure they comply with the new emission limits. Once tested and approved as Ready to Burn, the supplier receives a logo with their Business name and certificate number (such as the one at the top of this post). Ready to Burn firewood has to contain an average moisture of 20% or less, as discussed in our blog post “Burning of Wet Wood and Coal to Be Banned“. Less than 20% moisture means the wood burns hotter producing less smoke and fewer emissions than wet wood!
Who is Running the Ready to Burn Scheme?
The new scheme is run by Woodsure, as appointed by DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs). Woodsure is running the scheme making it easier for customers to identify Ready to Burn wood. They distribute the Ready to Burn logo for use at point of sale, which indicates that the firewood is ready for immediate use.
Here at Andrew Heard Logs we sell Ready to Burn hardwood logs, kiln dried logs and kindling. Therefore, you can continue to choose between both, seasoned and kiln dried logs. However, due to the ban on House Coal, we now only sell Homefire Smokeless coal. Once you have received your logs, storing them correctly will help to keep the moisture content down. For more information on storing hardwood logs, please read our blog post “How to Store Your Logs“.