Garden bonfires

Burning domestic waste

You can't burn household waste if it will cause pollution or harm people's health. Dry garden waste can be burnt.

Dispose of household or garden waste by composting or recycling it.

• Use our garden waste collections page to find out about the service and how to subscribe.
• Find out more about how to dispose of waste and what you can recycle in County Durham on our What goes in which bin? page.

Drifting smoke - danger to traffic

You could be fined if you light a fire and you allow the smoke to drift across the road and become a danger to traffic.

Complain about a neighbours' bonfire

We can issue an abatement notice if a neighbour's bonfire is causing a nuisance. Your neighbour can be fined up to £5,000 if they don't stick to the notice.

A bonfire must happen frequently to be considered a nuisance.