I have just taken over an allotment and am looking for a garden incinerator. Do they have such a thing, I have not seen anything in JUMBO or COOP! Are there any restrictions on burning rubbish?

you'll find you may get stamped upon for burning stuff. Someone will grass you up.

What are you trying to dispose of?

Paper - weeds - cardboard, not masses because I do recycle when they have a collection in the village once every two months. Not plastics

I bought one from OBI although i'm not sure it's what you are looking for, it's a small cast iron basket on legs you can burn stuff in.

Normally the restrictions are detailed in the Benützungsordnungen.

For example, our local allotments have the following rules:


"Das Verbrennen von Abfällen (ausgenommen dürre Gartenabfällen) ist untersagt. Es steht einem einzelnen oder mehreren Pächtern frei, das Pflanzen- bzw. Abfallmaterial auf dem Pachtland geordnet zu kompostieren. Sofern ein Kompost nur einer Parzelle dient, ist zur Nachbarparzelle ein Abstand von 1 Meter einzuhalten."

Exactly what I looking at? Will have to go to Obi. Thx

Thanks - I was just thinking of a way of getting rid of some rubbish!

Can you not use one of those green bins for that sort of rubbish? I think they get colleted every so often - perhaps you could get the others on the allotment to chip in and buy one that everyone could use?

I think the reason for these rules is that burning this kind of material (including wet wood or other woodlike substances) is that they create a lot of toxic dioxines. These particles then drift down onto nearby plants, and of course you do not want to ingest these as dioxines are extremely carcenogenic.

In this case, the dioxines are produced by molds on the wood (and perhaps carton?). In Belgium a study showed that on certain days, 25% of dioxine pollution is caused by people burning garden waste.

And it's not just the allotment, the law states that nothing shall be burnt in the open except rubbish that grew in gardens or forests, if they don't exceedingly pollute the air. Communes are allowed to restrict this further, especially for residential areas.

So it is not allowed to burn paper and cardboard. I can only advise to dispose of them in the normal trash bags or to sacrifice another corner of your basement for their piles.

Throw it in the kachelofen, that's what I do

That's illegal too of course because your oven doesn't have flue gas cleaning either. I hope you do your neighbors and the environment a favor and cease to burn anything except untreated wood in your oven.

So it's illegal to start a fire in your kachelofen using newspaper or cardboard underneath or on top of your kindling?

You may legally use paper to start the fire, but after that, the law only allows to burn untreated wood.

(One of many sources in German. Regrettably many unfit private ovens are used to dispose of carton, paper, and other flammable rubbish.)