How to… have an eco-friendly barbecue

meat cooking on a barbecue grill

Ruth Harwood gives her top tips on how to green your barbecue

1. Avoid throwaway barbecues

Instead build your own BBQ at home if you have time – all you need is some bricks and a grill or tray to place on top of them.

As for powering the barbecue, you’ve a choice of charcoal, gas or electricity – and each has its environmental drawbacks. Liquid petroleum gas (LPG) is preferable to electricity. But it’s not always easy to choose between charcoal and gas. Charcoal is dirtier but can come from renewable resources (wood-derived charcoal), whereas gas burns cleaner than charcoal but uses non-renewable fossil fuels.

2. Choose sustainable charcoal

Burning charcoal gives off soot and carbon monoxide, which pollutes the air, so there’s no such thing as a truly eco-friendly barbecue. But for more sustainable charcoal that is less damaging to the environment go for products with a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo - look out for the tree and the 'tick' image (read more in our 60 Second Guide to Sustainable wood).

The following supermarkets sell charcoal with the FSC logo:

  • Waitrose (Big K brand),
  • Morrisons (own label 'Instant Light' only);
  • Co-Op (own label),
  • Asda (own label).
You can also buy sustainably sourced charcoal from:

3. Green your menu

Bargain packs of barbecue burgers and sausages often contain low-grade, factory-farmed meat (read more in our 60 Second Guide to factory farming). Economy sausages and burgers are also bulked up with additives, rusk and water, so chances are they won’t taste as good either.

Serve local, humanely raised meat - ask your butcher or find your nearest farm shops and farmers' market at Big Barn.

For great, eco-friendly grilled seafood, check out our guide to sustainable fish. Tiger prawns should be off the menu unless they are from a sustainable source where they have been responsibly farmed.

4. Cut your waste

There are many ways to reduce the amount of rubbish from your barbecue. Unlike paper napkins, for example, cloth varieties can be washed and used again.

Equally, you can reduce the amount you throw away by using real crockery and cutlery instead of disposable plates, knives and forks.

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