6 Things It’s Illegal to Burn in Your Backyard – Yet People Still Try

Every summer, smoke rises from backyards across the country from fires that are, technically speaking, breaking the law. Some homeowners don’t know better. Others simply don’t think anyone is watching. The problem is serious enough that authorities from New York to Washington State have issued fresh warnings, tightened regulations, and handed out steep fines. What follows is a gallery of the six most commonly burned materials that are illegal to toss into a backyard fire – and the real risks behind each one.

1. Household Trash and Garbage

Backyard burning refers to the burning of household trash by residents on their own property, and the trash typically burned includes paper, cardboard, food scraps, plastics, and yard trimmings – essentially any materials that would otherwise be recycled or sent to a landfill. Household trash burning was a common and accepted practice in previous decades, but with the development of new technology and products, the components of our trash have changed. In the past, household trash was primarily made up of wood and paper, but today it often contains many types of plastics, coated paper, and other unnatural materials.

Burning household trash produces many toxic chemicals and is one of the largest known sources of dioxins in the nation. The remaining ash contains toxic substances too, which leach into the soil to be taken up by plants or may get into streams, lakes, ponds, or groundwater. Every state prohibits burning household trash, tires, waste petroleum products, roofing and construction materials, hazardous waste products, and their containers. Maximum fines can be up to $25,000 per day per violation in states like Georgia, making what seems like a simple cleanup effort a very costly mistake.

2. Vehicle Tires and Rubber

In most jurisdictions, open burning of tires is illegal. The practice is regulated or outright prohibited across the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and many other countries due to the well-documented environmental and public health risks it creates. Burning tires releases toxic pollutants including heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins, and furans that cause serious harm to human health and the environment.

An estimated 1.5 billion waste tires are generated globally every year, and improper disposal remains a persistent problem across many regions. Toxic ash containing concentrated heavy metals and chemical compounds settles onto surrounding land, contaminating soil for decades. Once deposited, these contaminants migrate into the soil profile, where they can be absorbed by agricultural crops and enter the food chain, or leach into groundwater systems that supply drinking water to local communities. Depending on the length and degree of exposure, health effects could include irritation of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes, respiratory effects, central nervous system depression, and cancer.

3. Treated, Painted, or Pressure-Treated Wood

Burning painted or chemically treated wood is a practice that should be avoided entirely, as it introduces significant risks to human health, home heating systems, and the environment. The chemical compounds infused into or applied onto lumber are not destroyed by fire; instead, combustion causes them to aerosolize into toxic smoke and ash. When pressure-treated lumber containing Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) is burned, the fire aerosolizes the arsenic, chromium, and copper within the wood structure. These heavy metals are released as fine particulate matter in the smoke, which can travel deep into the lungs upon inhalation.

Burning pressure or chemically treated wood, painted or stained wood, or composite wood such as plywood and particle board is explicitly prohibited under New York State law, and similar rules apply across the country. The disposal of treated lumber by burning has serious health and environmental risks – in fact, it’s illegal to burn in all 50 states. Ammoniacal copper zinc arsenate (ACZA), a newer wood treatment formula, is also harmful when burned, increasing the risk of chronic respiratory disease and even cancer, and unfortunately it’s often difficult to distinguish treated wood from standard lumber.

4. Plastics and Synthetic Materials

Burning plastics releases dangerous toxins like dioxins and heavy metals into the air, which is why it is prohibited in nearly every state. North Carolina state law explicitly bans burning anything non-vegetative, including plastics, and strictly forbids plastic disposal via backyard bonfires. Open burning in burn barrels generates relatively low temperatures, usually between 400 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and does not combust materials efficiently. This causes the release of many different types of pollutants into the air, which can lead to severe health issues, especially for children, teenagers, pregnant women, older persons, and people with preexisting respiratory conditions.

Significantly higher levels of dioxins are created by burning trash in burn barrels than in municipal incinerators. Household burn barrels receive limited oxygen, and thus burn at fairly low temperatures, producing not only dioxins, but a great deal of smoke and other pollutants. Backyard burning is also particularly dangerous because it releases pollutants at ground level where they are more readily inhaled or incorporated into the food chain. In Washington State alone, you can be fined up to $10,000 per day for illegal burning.

5. Construction Debris and Demolition Waste

Demolition leftovers such as lumber, drywall, wiring, metal scraps, roofing shingles, and treated wood are often tossed into burn piles, but that is illegal. You should burn only dry, plain wood, with no pressure-treated lumber, plywood, painted or stained wood. Expressly prohibited materials include vinyl shingles and siding, other plastics, asphalt shingles and other asphalt roofing materials, and asbestos-containing materials. It is always illegal to burn trash, construction materials, or anything man-made and non-vegetative, according to North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality.

No materials suspected to contain asbestos, or which contain asbestos, should be burned at debris management sites. Older homes, schools, and other buildings built before the 1980s likely contain asbestos, and the mineral was widely used in construction materials such as cement and insulation. On March 28, 2024, the EPA finalized a rule to prohibit the manufacture, processing, distribution in commerce, and commercial use and disposal of chrysotile asbestos – a clear signal of how seriously regulators treat any handling or burning of asbestos-containing building materials.

6. Yard Waste and Leaves During Burn Bans

Open burning of debris is the single-largest cause of spring wildfires in New York State. When temperatures warm and the past fall’s debris and leaves dry out, wildfires can start and spread easily, further fueled by winds and a lack of green vegetation. New York State’s burn ban is put in place each year to lessen the chance of wildfires, and since the annual springtime ban was implemented in 2009, New York State has experienced 42% fewer wildfires annually. Yet violations continue.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers and fire companies annually respond to and extinguish dozens of wildfires that burn hundreds of acres, with 95% of them resulting from human causes. It is illegal to burn household garbage and leaves any time of year under New York State law. Fines for illegal fires typically start at $1,000 plus the cost to reimburse the fire department for their response efforts, and that number climbs quickly when a fire escapes and causes property damage.