Ready to Burn: the Logo Certifies a Sample, Not Your Bag

Ready to Burn firewood is the green-logo wood you now see in every garage forecourt and builders’ merchant, and the reason you can no longer buy a net of wet logs in England. Most explanations stop at “under 20% moisture”. The regulations say considerably more than that, and two of the details matter a great deal to anyone spending real money on logs.

The first is that certification tests a sample, not the bag in your hands. The second is that the statutory advice given to bulk buyers says to dry wood for at least two years, which is roughly double what most seasoning guides suggest. Both of those come straight from the legislation, and neither appears on the average retailer’s page.

This is what the rules actually require, taken from the regulations rather than from a summary of them.

Where the rules come from

The Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 were made under section 87 of the Environment Act 1995 and came into force for most purposes on 1 May 2021. Enforcement sits with your local authority. The full text is on legislation.gov.uk.

They cover four things: wood sold in units under two cubic metres, wood sold in units of two cubic metres or more, manufactured solid fuels, and bituminous coal. Which set of duties applies depends entirely on the volume in the unit being sold.

One point people miss: “supply” is defined broadly. It catches sales from retail premises “whether movable or immovable”, from a retail website or similar online sales facility, from a telephone service, or by any other place or method of sale. A man with a truck and a Facebook page is inside these rules exactly as a national chain is.

Wood under two cubic metres: three offences, not one

Regulation 4 creates three distinct prohibitions, and a seller can breach any of them independently.

One. You must not supply a unit of wood under 2m³ unless it is “authorised wood”, meaning a certificate has been issued for it by an approved wood certification body.

Two. You must not supply it if, after that certificate was issued, there is reason to believe the moisture content is above 20%. Certification does not immunise wood that has since got wet.

Three. You must not supply it unless it is accompanied, on the packaging or otherwise, by the Schedule 1 logo and the relevant information, which the regulations define precisely as the name of the person who obtained the certificate and the number of that certificate.

Each is an offence triable summarily with a fine. So the thing to look for on a bag is not just the green logo: it is the logo plus a name plus a certificate number. A logo on its own, with no certificate number, does not meet the requirement.

Why the logo does not mean your bag was tested

This is the part that is genuinely misunderstood, and it is worth reading regulation 5 to see why.

The first person in the chain of supply applies for a certificate and sends the certification body a sample. The body tests that sample to ISO 18134-1 or ISO 18134-2, as referred to in the firewood fuel specification BS EN ISO 17225-5. If the sample comes in below 20%, a certificate is issued.

The certificate holder may then use the logo on wood “to which the sample relates”, and must use best endeavours to ensure the wood actually supplied has the same characteristics as the sample. Failing that duty is a separate offence.

Read plainly: the scheme certifies a producer’s process against a tested sample, backed by a best-endeavours duty and by Woodsure’s annual audits and mystery-shopper testing on Defra’s behalf. It is a real assurance and it is worth paying for. It is not a guarantee that the specific netted bundle in your boot was measured. Kiln-dried logs that have sat outdoors on a wet forecourt for a fortnight can be over 20% while wearing a perfectly valid logo.

Which is the entire argument for owning a moisture meter even if you only ever buy certified wood. Split a log, press the pins into the fresh inner face, and check. Our guides on how to use a moisture meter and what moisture firewood should be cover the method, and if you are getting odd numbers, moisture meter reading too high covers the usual causes.

Two cubic metres and over: what the law makes them tell you

Above the threshold, no certificate is needed and there is no moisture limit on the sale. Instead, regulation 8 says the wood must be accompanied by a notice using the exact words in Schedule 2. Not a paraphrase, the specified form of words:

This wood is not suitable for burning until it has been dried. You should not burn wood until it has a moisture content of 20% or less. Wet wood contains moisture which creates smoke and harmful particulates when burnt. As well as being harmful to your health and the environment, this can damage your stove and chimney and is an inefficient way to heat your home. Dry it in a sunny, well-aired space for at least two years, keeping rain off in the winter. Radial cracks and bark that comes off easily suggests wood that is ready for burning. Test the wood when you think it is ready for burning, ideally with a moisture meter. First calibrate the meter and then measure a freshly split surface to get the best reading.

Note the timescale. The government’s own statutory wording says at least two years in a sunny, well-aired space with rain kept off in winter. A great deal of firewood advice, including plenty written by sellers, says one year for hardwood. One year is achievable for split, stacked, well-sited softwood or ash, but as a general instruction to a buyer taking delivery of a bulk load, two years is the standard the law sets. Our seasoning firewood to under 20% guide covers how to hit it faster if your stacking is good.

If your bulk delivery arrives with no such notice, the seller has committed an offence. It is a small thing, but it is a useful tell about whether you are dealing with someone who knows the trade. The practical trade-offs between the two buying routes are in boxed logs versus a bulk pallet.

Briquettes and heat logs are a different Part

If you burn manufactured fuel, Part 4 applies rather than Part 2, and the standards are about emissions rather than moisture.

A manufactured solid fuel must be certified, must appear on the list the Secretary of State maintains, and must carry the logo plus the name and certificate number. Certification is against sulphur content, tested to BS1016-106.5:1996 or ISO 157:1996, and smoke emissions, tested to BS3841.

The regulations also carve out exempt fuels, which sit outside Part 4 entirely: coffee logs, olive logs, wine logs, and fuels where the majority of the fuel is wheat husks, straw, miscanthus, bamboo or compressed food waste. If you have wondered why coffee logs are sold without the same certification furniture, that is why.

Wood briquettes made from compressed sawdust are not on that exempt list, so they fall to be handled as either wood or manufactured fuel depending on the product. Our best wood briquettes and kiln-dried logs versus briquettes pages compare the real-world burn performance.

The penalty regime nobody mentions

Two separate enforcement systems are at work, and people conflate them.

Selling non-compliant fuel is a criminal offence under the 2020 regulations, enforced by the local authority, punishable on summary conviction by a fine. That is aimed at sellers.

Emitting smoke in a smoke control area is no longer a criminal offence in England. Schedule 12 to the Environment Act 2021 replaced prosecution with a civil penalty. A local authority that is satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that smoke was emitted from a relevant chimney issues a notice of intent. The minimum penalty is £175 and the maximum is £300.

You then have 28 days from the day after the notice to object in writing, on one of four grounds: that there was no emission of smoke on that occasion; that the chimney was not covered by a smoke control order; that you were not the person liable; or that there are other compelling reasons why the penalty should not be imposed. If you name someone else as liable, you have to give their name and address if you know it.

So burning wet wood you seasoned badly will not get you prosecuted, but if you live in a smoke control area and it smokes, you can be fined for it without anyone going near a court.

Smoke control areas are a separate test

Worth restating because it catches people out. Ready to Burn governs what can be sold. Smoke control area rules govern what you may burn, and where, and in what.

In a smoke control area, which covers most towns and cities, you need both: dry, compliant fuel and a Defra-exempt appliance. Certified wood in a non-exempt open fire in a smoke control area is still a problem. Buying the right logs does not exempt you from the appliance rules, and the appliance rules do not let you burn wet wood.

The small forester exemption has expired

For completeness, because outdated pages still cite it. Regulation 6 gave small foresters, defined as anyone who supplied less than 600 cubic metres of wood in the year ending 30 April 2021, an extra 12 months before regulation 4 applied to them. That ran from 1 May 2021, so it expired on 30 April 2022. There is no small-supplier exemption today.

Scotland and Wales

The 2020 regulations are English. They apply to wood supplied for combustion in domestic premises in England, which is written into the definitions in Parts 2, 3 and 4.

Scotland and Wales have their own air quality frameworks and have not adopted this scheme in the same form, so the green logo requirement you see in an English shop is not a UK-wide legal requirement. If you buy in Wales or Scotland, treat certification as a quality signal rather than a legal guarantee, and rely on your own meter. The 20% target is sound practice everywhere, because it is physics rather than policy: wet wood spends its energy boiling off water instead of heating your room.

What this means when you are actually buying

• Look for three things on the bag, not one: the logo, a name, and a certificate number.
• Treat the logo as a scheme assurance, not a per-bag measurement. Check with a meter, especially with anything stored outdoors.
• Buying bulk is legal and often sensible, but you inherit the drying job, and the statutory advice is two years, not one.
• Check whether you are in a smoke control area before worrying about anything else, because that determines your appliance as well as your fuel.

More on choosing between suppliers and formats is in our firewood buying guide and best kiln-dried logs.

Frequently asked questions

What does Ready to Burn firewood actually mean? It means a certificate has been issued for that wood by an approved certification body after a sample was tested at or below 20% moisture, and the supplier is entitled to use the Defra-backed logo. The certified product must carry the logo along with the certificate holder’s name and the certificate number.

Does the Ready to Burn logo guarantee my logs are under 20%? Not on a bag-by-bag basis. Certification is granted on a tested sample, and the certificate holder must use best endeavours to ensure supplied wood matches it. In practice logs stored outdoors after certification can pick up moisture. A meter reading on a freshly split face is the only way to know what you have.

Is it illegal to sell wet wood in England? It is an offence to supply wood in units under two cubic metres unless it is certified, at or below 20% moisture, and correctly labelled. Selling in units of two cubic metres or more is legal without certification, but the wood must come with the exact notice set out in Schedule 2 telling the buyer to dry it first.

How long does the law say I should season firewood? The statutory notice for bulk sales says to dry it in a sunny, well-aired space for at least two years, keeping rain off in winter. That is longer than much of the seasoning advice in circulation. Test rather than trust the calendar: split a log and measure the fresh face.

What is the fine for burning wood in a smoke control area? In England it is now a civil penalty of between £175 and £300 under Schedule 12 to the Environment Act 2021, issued by the local authority rather than a court. You get a notice of intent first and have 28 days to object on one of four grounds.

Do the Ready to Burn rules apply in Scotland and Wales? No. The regulations expressly cover wood supplied for burning in domestic premises in England. Scotland and Wales run their own arrangements, so treat the logo as a useful quality marker there rather than a legal requirement, and check moisture yourself.

Do briquettes and heat logs need to be certified? Manufactured solid fuels have their own regime under Part 4, certified against sulphur content and smoke emissions and listed by the Secretary of State. Coffee logs, olive logs, wine logs and fuels mostly made from wheat husks, straw, miscanthus, bamboo or compressed food waste are exempt fuels and sit outside it.