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Co-op bans sale of disposable barbecues at stores near national parks
This move has come amid a spike of littering and anti-social behaviour in national parks
Disposable barbecues will no longer be sold in Co-op stores near UK national parks, the supermarket has announced this week.
They added that, while millions of instant barbecues were sold each year and while the ‘vast majority’ are used safely, 130 of their stores within a one mile radius will be withdrawing the product to support local bans by national parks and landowners.
The retailer has taken action following a campaign led by former worker Hannah Mitchell, from Penrith, after a spike of litter and anti-social behaviour in the Lake District.
Mick Garratt / Geograph
Mitchell 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 said: “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.
“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.”
This comes just days after Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service issued a warning after they spent three hours tackling a blaze caused by an outdoor barbecue.
Crews were called to reports of a grass fire near Carrbrook in Stalybridge on Sunday afternoon – they later shared a photograph to demonstrate the extent of the blaze and to issue a warning to those thinking of having a barbecue out on the moors.
They wrote: “Our crews have spent the last three hours dealing with a 2500 square metre grass fire near Carrbrook, Stalybridge. If you’re out today act responsibly and never have a barbecue or start a campfire on the moors.”