Ban Fire Lanterns (join the campaign)

Love owls? Don’t release fire lanterns (Mint Sprinkle)

Fire lanterns are just awful. Often used for Chinese and Diwali New Year celebrations, although these paper lanterns look harmless, they do terrible damage to all creatures. They are also released abroad by some Buddhists (who should now better, due to their philosophy of ‘do no harm’).

Most are made with a metal wire, the paper is then lit to float away. But like balloons, they fall to the ground (or more likely the sea as 70% of our planet is water) and the metal either punctures creatures. Or the lanterns catch fire (in Germany, several animals died in an enclosure when fell into a zoo).

One 10-year boy in Germany also died in a house fire, from one landing in his home.

The largest fire in England (which caused £6 million of damage) at a plastics recycling plant in the West Midlands was started by a sky lantern landing (proven due to closed-circuit TV). The local branch of Poundland decided to stop selling sky lanterns as a result.

In Brazil, a whole pavilion burned to the ground, when a sky lantern landed on the roof. Sky lanterns are hazards to aircraft, which is why releases are banned within airspace navigation.

Why are fire lanterns not banned?

Who knows why, presumably because their sales generate profits for government. Labour MP Ruth George did try to ban them through a Bill in 2019. But it never went past the first reading. What do MPs do all day?

The latest release from Hansard (July 2023) had the MP responding that ‘we commissioned new research the examine the impact on the environment of sky lanterns in order to further understand the risks they pose to the environment. The research concluded in the spring, and we are considering next steps’.

All fire rescue teams, RSPCA and National Farmers Union want them banned (they can even land in silage, so animals could be at risk of eating the wire along with hay). They can of course also cause wildfires, especially in dry hot weather.

Many councils are now taking matters into their own hands, implementing regional bans (and Wales has banned their release on public land).

Report sky lanterns as public litter

The Peak District National Park is one of many that wishes to see releasing sky lanterns classed as littering, and this would then invoke a fine. If you know of anyone planning to release then, contact your council and report litter to Fix My Street.

Councils have responsibility to clear up litter on public land (no matter who dropped it). And on public land, they can serve litter abatement orders (which gives fines to people who don’t clear it up, or they get invoiced if councils clear it up).

What’s the alternative to sky lanterns?

None. You don’t have to ‘release anything’ to celebrate anything, and that’s the problem. Sky lanterns or any ‘lights’ also causes light pollution for birds and other wildlife. Just go for a walk, sing a song, visit church or celebrate in some other way, without harming nature and other creatures.

If you need something to ‘glow’, this Sun Jar comes on automatically at dark, glowing for over 5 hours from solar power, from daytime charging. But it’s quite expensive, so you could not many at a time.

Even astronomers are annoyed at the thought of people ‘buying stars to name after someone’.

Are sky lanterns banned abroad?

In many countries yes. On the grounds of causing wildfires, harming livestock and damaging agricultural crops. So why are we not doing so, in a country that pledges to ‘help our farmers?’

Countries that have so far issues bans on fire lanterns are:

• Australia (a national ban on import and use)
• Brazil (release gets you up to 3 years in jail)
• Germany (bans implement, due to the tragedies mentioned above
• Austria (illegal to produce, sell, import or distribute)
• Argentina, Chile and Columbia
• Malta, Spain
• Vietnam
• Many US states have banned them, along with many regions of Canada.

Over half of our councils have already banned the release of fire lanterns. If yours is not one of them, write to your local councillors and MPs to ask why not?

Other things not to release

Avoid balloon releases (these have the same issues, as they end up in the sea, where sea turtles eat them, thinking they are jellyfish – one horse recently choked on balloon string – there are plenty of eco alternatives, read the post for more info.

Even kites can slice off wings in the sky, or have strings that tangle. You can buy biodegradable ones from cornstarch, but it’s best not to use them. If you do, don’t fly kites at dusk or dawn (when birds are most likely in flight).