Co-op will no longer sell disposable barbecues near UK national parks to support the bans and stop fires. The decision comes following a campaign by Hannah Mitchell from Penrith after a number of littering and anti-social behaviour in the Lake District.
Co-op’s decision means that it will no sell disposable barbecues within or up to one mile away from National Parks, which affects 130 of the chain’s stores.
Back in April Firefights fought a “one-mile” fire that was said to have been “started by people” in which ten fire engines plus specialist wildlife units tackled the blaze. The blaze was just two years after a fire destroyed seven sq km of land back in 2019.
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue has previously called for shops in the Peak District to stop selling disposable barbecues after the series of fires.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service posted today that BBQs are banned on our moorland. People caught doing so could face a £2,500 fine, with a clear message that they will not tolerate bbqs on the moorland.
The BBC reported that Ms Mitchell had asked her former employer to consider stopping the sale of the instant product after seeing people travelling to the Lake District earlier this year.
She notes that it was a small minority and that she welcomed tourists outdoors: “What we did see was a spate of sort of anti-social behaviour in the form of littering and environmental damage, and a big culprit amongst that was disposable barbecues,” she said.
“I felt like it was sort of a bit of a moral responsibility of theirs to mitigate further damage by restricting the sales of these things in rural areas such as the Lake District.”
“I think first and foremost the word disposable in the title of that product is problematic in itself,” she added.
“They can be very damaging if used irresponsibly and the damage that we have seen in our national parks, sadly, it is perpetrated by a small minority.”
Feature Image Credit: Derbyshirefrs
