Illegal Burning of Trash

Burning trash emits many nasty chemicals and particles into the air. Backyard burning hurts us, our children, our neighbors, and our natural surroundings. You can be part of the solution. Stop illegal burning of trash in Vermont.

We'll all breathe easier.

 

If your neighbor is burning trash or illegally dumping waste:

Call the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Enforcement Division Headquarters: 241-3820 After hours see the Enforcement Division pages for more details and for phone numbers of our local Environmental Enforcement Officers: http://www.anr.state.vt.us/anrenf/ and click on "Report a Violation"

An Outdated Tradition
"We've always done it this way..."
Yes, burning trash has been done for years and years in Vermont--some might even call it tradition. But this tradition needs to be changed. Today's trash is different from yesterday's. Our situation has changed:

1. There's more plastic in our trash than ever. When burned in a barrel or pile, plastics produce high levels of toxic gases--including dioxins and gases that form hydrochloric acid in our lungs.
2. There's more of us than ever. With so many people, smoke from each burn pile adds up fast.
3. Midwestern power plants send us their smoke on the prevailing winds, we don't need to add more.
4. We have a better understanding of how the air we breathe affects our health. We can no longer put our children's health at risk.

When you burn trash at home, your trash disposal fees go up in smoke, but so do many other harmful things--right at ground level for everyone to breathe.

It's worth a few bucks to do the right thing to protect your family's health.

The "New" Tradition
Recycling and composting what we can, then bagging and trashing the rest is the best way to deal with our waste, both for our health and for the environment. "Reducing" our trash by turning it into toxic smoke does not help, it makes things worse.

Now recycling just gives us an extra excuse to linger at the "dump" (now often called the "transfer station") on Saturday mornings to catch up with our neighbors.

It's amazing how much of our trash is recyclable, and recycling is free in our towns! Composting your food waste in your backyard reduces your trash even more.

What Can I Burn?
Vermont law permits the burning of brush and unpainted wood. But many towns require permits for uncontained fires. So before burning, please call your town fire department for permit information.

What About Paper?
Even paper when burned emits dioxins and other harmful substances because of the inks and chemicals used in making paper from wood. It's much better to recycle pape--recycling is free in the District and it saves trees and creates jobs.