Allotment Fires

When there is so much emphasis on protecting the environment I ask the question should allotment fires be banned nationwide. Why do gardeners need to burn “things” and pollute our atmosphere? I understand that some waste may carry disease including weeds to be disposed of carefully to prevent spread but I would argue these are small in number and can be bagged up and put in your waste bin.
     It seems every day someone has a fire on one of the allotment sites in our area. What are these people burning!

In addition I hope gardeners will think about composting most weeds, no need for burning.

Terrific idea, lets bury more plastic bags full of waste in the ground!

Hello what's wrong with chipping such as raspberries,as for the ivy in an old hedge Christine check that you are allowed to remove it,in my local authority area ivy has to be left for nesting birds and insects,pernicious weeds,couch,grass mares tale Japanese Knotweed are supposed to be destroyed on site as are any diseased plant material eg, blighted tomatoes blighted potatoes raspberries with  violet big bud should be burnt on a hot fire with out making smoke,we had to burn 250 tomatoe plants one year under a 1962 notifiable disease act ,it was very hot they burst in minutes    jezza

I try to burn as little as possible, but there are some things such as diseased plant material and pernicious weeds that need to be disposed of in this way.  I compost annual weeds, throw nettles etc into the water butts to make liquid compost and use the comfrey as a liquid feed.  If someone has ever had to garden in an area infested with really "nasty" weeds, then they would also agree with burning them.  Our council, in its wisdom, has decreed that plotholders may only have fires during the winter when everything is soaking wet and creates ten times more smoke than if it was burnt during the summer.  Local householders, however, are allowed to burn what and when they please. Hard to understand, isn't it?