New Forest Park bosses welcome M&S BBQ ban

The New Forest National Park Authority has said it is 'relieved' that Marks and Spencer has added its support to their #BanTheBBQ disposable BBQ campaign in a bid to reduce wildfires and cut waste.

M&S has agreed to stop selling disposable barbecues across the whole of the UK. Bosses at the shopping chain have vowed to help protect open spaces and reduce the risks of wildfires during the UK's ongoing heatwave.

Mark and Spencer had already stopped selling disposable barbecues near national parks, and also in London, but said they were 'taking the precautionary step of removing them from sale across the UK" as a result of the unusually hot and dry conditions.

Co-op were the first supermarket, in 2021, to stop selling them in and around the UK's National Parks. Aldi and Waitrose followed suit in the Spring of this year by removing disposable BBQ's from sale nationwide. A move also driven by the threat of wildfires and waste from single use products.

To date, more 50 retailers in and around the New Forest now support the campaign. Pressure continues to grow in demanding that the few remaining retailers do likewise, and take them off the shelves.

This photo by Mac Hall, taken from his house, shows a raging wildfire fire at Sway in 2020. This blaze was caused by a disposable BBQ.

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