Facts and figures

• Number 1: Air pollution is the biggest environmental health threat contributing to the premature death of millions of people worldwide.

• Wood burning is the largest source of PM2.5 emissions in the EU at 51%. (Wood burning is responsible for more particulate matter emissions than traffic)

• The most harmful components of wood smoke are invisible to the naked eye. Just because you can’t see the smoke doesn’t mean you won’t be harmed.

• If you burn one kilogram of wood, 1,000,000m3 of clean air is polluted. That means an area of 100,000m2 up to a height of 10m

• 650 times more particles than a modern truck are emitted by a wood-burning stove that meets the strictest eco-design requirements Study

• Wood smoke contains most of the same carcinogens, mutagens and teratogens found in tobacco smoke, but in much larger quantities.

• Burning 1 kg of wood releases as much benzo(a)pyrene as 27,333 cigarettes. (Benzo[a]pyrene is one of the longest known and studied cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds).

• Researchers have found evidence that wood smoke is more carcinogenic than tobacco smoke and can cause more genetic mutations than traffic exhaust.

• An extract of wood smoke is 30 times more likely to cause tumors than cigarette smoke.

• Due to the small size of particulate matter, it is almost impossible to protect oneself from them – not even by closing windows

• Landfill operators are liable for the safe disposal of ash for 30 years