Controlling Smoke Emissions in Your Community

If you have already determined that smoke is an issue in your community, and identified the largest source of the problem, you now need to decide which approach you will take to reduce the smoke emissions. You have two avenues available to you.

You can launch awareness and education campaigns and leave it to the public to decide if they will take personal action (voluntary), or you can create and enforce bylaws or policy to force compliance. It is common to use both methods: starting with the voluntary route, followed by the mandatory route.

There are two types of voluntary measures; public awareness and education campaigns, and municipal programs such as wood-stove change-out programs, or curbside garden waste and debris collection programs.

Public Awareness Campaigns (voluntary buy-in)
Any initiative to reduce wood smoke from various sources will need to include a public awareness or communication component. The content will vary depending on whether the public awareness program is a stand-alone program, or whether it is being used to support other initiatives. In either case, there are lots of existing public awareness materials available to address smoke emissions. (See Reference Materials List in the Resources Section.)

There are some general guidelines to think about when planning your campaign:

• Know your audience: what are their needs/wants. Give them information on how to meet those needs/wants and reduce smoke emissions at the same time.
• Ensure alternative options are available: curbside pick-up programs so people don’t burn leaves
• Offer incentives for a preferred behaviour.
• Consider the timing of the campaign: promote proper wood use and storage in early summer so people have time to cure their wood for the fall heating season. As fall approaches, address leaf-burning and announce up-coming curbside collection programs.
• Work with campaign partners to develop messages and deliver the program: find like-minded partners like health care, NGOs and retailers.

Public awareness campaigns will vary depending on whether they are aiming at all sources of smoke or targeting specific sources such as wood stoves or backyard burning. However, there are certain messages that can be included in any campaign to reduce smoke. Here are some examples of points to include:

• Clearly explain the problem/concern to be addressed/resolved by your program.
• Share the impacts of wood smoke on local air quality and human health.
• Share the air quality concerns in your region.
• Explain your region’s air quality plan; how does the smoke management initiative fit into that plan.
• What else is being done in the region to reduce smoke (people are more likely to participate in an initiative if they know everyone’s doing their part).
• Smoke is the result of incomplete combustion; A smouldering fire is an inefficient fire. Home heating fuel, and the money spent on it is literally going up in smoke.
• Increased smoke emissions mean higher home heating bills in addition to increased smoke in the atmosphere.
• If you do need to use a wood-burning appliance, ensure your wood is well-cured; follow manufacturer’s instructions for use; consider replacing old appliances with new cleaner models
• Less smoke means less build-up of materials in the chimney that could cause safety concerns
• Smoke particles stick to walls inside chimneys, causing a build up of creosote (safety issue)
• In coastal communities, don’t burn driftwood off the beach; burning this wood generates dioxins and furans that have cancer-causing and toxic properties. Burning salt-laden wood is also very corrosive to the flues of wood-burning appliances (health and safety concerns).
  
  

Municipal Programs
The sections on wood-burning appliances (wood stoves) and backyard burning offer specific program ideas to address those sources of smoke.

Partnerships
Forming partnerships for community programs or public awareness campaigns has many advantages:

• strengthens overall program content with messages relating to various concerns for the community
• reduces program costs
• extends program reach through partners’ networks
• Increases buy-in from target audience

Possible Community Program Partners
Whether your municipality is considering a public awareness campaign or some sort of municipal program, you should consider working in partnership with:

• health agencies/NGOs
• environmental NGOs
• appliance retailers
• fire safety agencies
• other levels of government
• Natural Resources Canada (Burn It Smart Program)
• fuel wood retailers/suppliers.