What is Open Burning?
Open burning is any outdoor fire or smoke producing process
that sends contaminants directly into the outdoor air. This
includes a fire on the ground or in a burning barrel, with or
without a screen over it.
Why is Open Burning regulated?
Open burning is regulated to protect our health and safety.
Open fires are very inefficient because the temperature, contact
time, and mixing of the gases are not controlled. These inefficient
conditions create lots of smoke and toxins. Burning of plastics,
treated paper, and other rubbish creates hazardous metals (lead,
cadmium, chromium) and toxic chemicals (dioxin, diisocyanate).
These substances are in the smoke, but are themselves invisible.
They cause serious health effects when inhaled or swallowed.
Falling to earth, they contaminate soils and water and also
our food supply. The harmful effects of toxic materials to both
children and adults can be immediate, or chronic disease can
develop over the long term.
Definitions
The underlined words and phrases used below are from
the Tompkins County Sanitary Code. To link to the Tompkins County
Code
click here then type “Article IX” into the search
box.
Garbage is animal and vegetable wastes resulting
from the processing and cooking of food and other putrescible
material (material that could be composted).
Rubbish includes waste material such as paper and
paper products, rags, furniture, cans, plastics, chemicals,
tires, junk, salvaged materials, trees, branches, garden debris,
etc.
Rubbish for salvage is rubbish intended to be recycled.
An example of burning rubbish for salvage was the illegal
burning the plastic cover off copper wire before it was sold.
Rubbish resulting from farming activity is solid
waste created in the normal operations of farming, but NOT
tires, vehicles or machinery, rubbish for salvage, or hazardous
material such as pesticides.
Rubbish resulting from residential activity is garden
and lawn cleanup materials only such as vines, leaves, needles
and trees and branches less than 4 inches in diameter.
What Open Burning is restricted?
Article IX of the Tompkins County Sanitary Code prohibits
in all of Tompkins County:
- Any open burning of garbage, rubbish for salvage, or building
or structure demolition.
- Any open burning of rubbish from any industrial, commercial,
business or residential source. See “What Burning is
Legal” for exceptions.
Other restricted Air Pollution
Any smoke, fumes or dust from any source (including wood/coal
stoves, outdoor furnaces, campfires, bonfires, etc.) that affects
the comfort of the public, injures or endangers the health or
safety of any person, or damages business or property is restricted.
This means that an otherwise legal fire may become restricted
if smoke blows into a neighbor’s house or yard. Even wood
smoke contains hazardous materials, and causes health effects
and aggravates health conditions such as asthma.
Using woodstoves, fireplaces, and outdoor furnaces as waste
incinerators is not safe or legal because toxins are produced.
Woodstoves are not designed as incinerators. Inappropriate materials
(plastics, wood treated with preservatives or paint, plywood)
burned in them will create toxic gases and materials. People,
both in the building with the stove, and neighbors, will inhale
these toxins.
What Burning is legal?
Currently State and County regulations allow the following
fires in all of Tompkins County:
- Outdoor grills or outdoor fires for preparing food.
- Campfires and fires for recreational uses. The burning of
leaf or brush piles or non-woody rubbish is not considered
recreational. Bonfires and campfires should only be made with
untreated wood.
- Burning for training purposes by Fire Departments, including
structures. Training should have the concurrence of Tompkins
County Emergency Response (257-3888). While no permit is required,
consideration must be given to neighbors (especially those
with health problems and children) and care must be taken
to remove dangerous materials (tires, drums, asbestos, etc.)
from the structure before it is burned.
- Rubbish resulting from farming activity.
Tompkins County regulations allow the following type of fire
in most of Tompkins County (but not
in or within 1/8 mile of the City of Ithaca or in or within
1/8 mile of any village.)
- Rubbish resulting from residential activities.
This includes garden and lawn cleanup material only such as
vines, leaves, needles, and small trees and branches. But
waste material like paper, paper products, rags, furniture,
plastics, tires and junk is not allowed
to be burned.
In addition, it is permissible to burn trees, tree parts, or
brush when clearing land with a permit from
the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Call 607-753-3095,
ext 238.
Remember that your municipality may have stricter rules.
Proper disposal of waste
All waste that is not reused, recycled, or composted
must go to a permitted disposal site. However, homeowners
and businesses can substantially reduce the amount of waste
material directed to a landfill by taking advantage of the current
recycling
opportunities.
To begin regular trash collection, find a contractor in the
Yellow Pages under Garbage Removal. Or, bag and bring your trash
to the Tompkins
County Recycling and Solid Waste Center at 122 Commercial
Avenue, Ithaca, after obtaining a permit (sticker for your vehicle),
available for $5.00 for 3 years at the Recycling Center. The
current fee to drop off a bag of rubbish at the Tompkins County
Recycling and Solid Waste Center is $2.00, a full carload is
$5.00 and a pickup truckload is $10.00.
To learn more about the regulations or report illegal burning,
contact the Tompkins County Division of Environmental Health
at 274-6688 or http://www.tompkins-co.org/health/
To learn how to manage your solid waste, how to reduce, reuse,
and recycle, contact the Tompkins County Solid Waste Management
Division at 273-6632 or http://www.tompkins-co.org/solidwaste/main.html
To learn composting, contact Tompkins County Cornell Cooperative
Extension at 272-2292 http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/tompkins/
Help prevent the trashing of our environment by reporting anyone
dumping along our roads or forests to the Tompkins County Division
of Solid Waste at 273-6632.
Other Interesting web sites:
http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/environ/trash.htm
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/backyard/health.htm
http://www.burnbarrel.org
2/16/06 OBRegSummary
Page updated: May 25, 2007 | Webmaster