The businesswaste.co.uk website has this week reiterated calls for an outright ban of disposable barbecues, launching an online petition at the Government’s website to hopefully raise the issue in parliament.
Its research found that in 2026 the product can still be bought easily online - via some of the same supermarkets that vowed to remove it from stores, two of which have a combined 2,600 stores in the UK.
Many other retailers still stock disposables in store, it added, and they can easily also be purchased from online marketplaces.
While there are no published figures on the sales of disposable barbecues in the UK, but before major supermarket withdrawals in 2022 disposable sales in the UK were estimated at around a million units per year.
Current usage remains high, and with the product impossible to recycle, it’s likely hundreds of thousands are heading to landfill annually.
Every year in the UK, fires caused by disposable barbecues are widely reported. Just last week, a blaze was caused in Hampshire, and last year fires were attributed to disposable barbecues in West Sussex, Bristol and the Isle of Wight, to name just a few.
Designed to be single-use and often only lit for two hours, the product is a huge waste of materials and extremely difficult to recycle. As a result, disposable barbecues often end up in landfill - if they aren’t abandoned or littered first.
There are plenty of reusable options on the market and for between £15 and £30, many retailers like IKEA and Argos sell folding and portable versions which are lightweight, designed for transport and can be used hundreds of times.
Mark Hall, waste management expert and director at BusinessWaste.co.uk, said: “We’ve been campaigning against the use and sale of disposable barbecues for years. Every year, we continue to see news reports of the damage done by the use of disposable products and boycotts have proved to be fleeting.
“In 2026, we really need to see an all-out ban put in place. There is no reason for these products to remain on sale when much more environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternatives are available. A ban would protect our green spaces, local wildlife and stop hundreds of thousands of disposables clogging our landfills. We would encourage the public to support this by signing the petition, sharing with friends and writing to local MPs.”
You can sign the petition here.
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