Laura Cummings: Make sure you stoke up the BBQ in an eco-friendly way

But while nothing says summer like the smell of burning burgers, few people realise just how environmentally unfriendly a traditional barbecue can be.

How many people, for example, can say they carefully select their bag of charcoal to ensure it has the words "homegrown" stamped on it?

It is thought that the majority of the 40,000 tonnes of barbecue charcoal used every year in the UK is imported from non-sustainable sources, such as mangroves in south-east Asia and rainforests in South America, to save money.

However, by making a few simple changes such as choosing to buy British lumpwood charcoal – which is clean-burning and lights quickly with newspaper – it is possible to barbecue and still be green.

BioRegional Charcoal Company, which sells charcoal to Homebase and Sainsbury's stores across the UK, advises using charcoal rather than gas barbecues. Its reasons are purely environmental.

Jennie Organ, spokeswoman for the company, which has the Buccleuch Estate in Dalkeith as one of its main charcoal suppliers, says: "If the charcoal is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified, it means it is a renewable product and it has come from a sustainable-managed woodland, whereas gas is a fossil fuel so that is contributing to climate change.

"Trees that are grown in the UK have a better structure for barbecuing because the structure of the wood means that it burns for longer and at a consistent temperature."

So, a little bit of UK charcoal should go a lot further than charcoal imported from overseas.

"It also means that you might not need to use firelighters because UK wood has a more open structure, so it should catch fire more readily," Miss Organ adds. "You can use scrunched-up newspaper rather than firelighters, which are impregnated with petrochemicals and can taint your food."

The Dalkeith Estate is one of only a handful of charcoal producers in Scotland and has been producing charcoal from its woodlands for more than a decade.

Andy Wiseman, forest manager of the estate, says: "The environmental benefits are that we get to thin our woodlands. By thinning out the smaller trees, it allows the other ones to grow into great big trees. Thinning our woodlands improves the forest and allows a lot more light to come down on to the forest floor for vegetation to grow at ground level, which helps wildlife, butterflies, bees and moths, the whole flora and fauna within the woodland ecology."

The wood is baked in charcoal kilns and converted to charcoal during a process which takes around two days.

The estate hopes to produce nearly 40 tonnes of lumpwood charcoal – perfect for barbecuing – this year, five tonnes more than last year. But with an estimated three per cent of the charcoal used on UK barbecues produced within these shores, the estate is certainly in the minority.

"Some of the imports could be coming from endangered habitats like mangrove swamps and mangrove forests," Mr Wiseman adds.

"If you buy charcoal that is homegrown or locally produced, you will be supporting a cottage industry within the local area where you know the charcoal is being produced on sustainably managed woodland.

"By supporting local charcoal, you will be helping support the local forest industry and environment, and jobs in the local economy, and that's great. It's just about raising that environmental awareness."

For years environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth have been campaigning for people to stop using charcoal that has been produced from felled rainforests, but it seems largely to have fallen on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, sales of barbecues have rocketed in the last year, with Dobbies' Melville store in the city tripling its sales.

"Our most recent figures have shown that charcoal barbecues are the more popular choice with our customers this year as sales of charcoal barbecues at Melville are up 23 per cent on last year," says Susan Moore, head of buying at Dobbies Garden Centres.

Disposable barbecues have also proved popular at parks and green spaces across the country, but they too come with their own environmental risks.

Holyrood Park has often been mistreated by careless barbecuers, as Royal Parks visitor services manager Martin Gray knows only too well: "People just lay the barbecues straight on to the ground, which creates scorch marks."

So when it comes to the environmentally friendly way to have a barbecue, the solution is simple – buy British lumpwood charcoal from sustainable sources in managed woodlands and forests.

All we need now is for the sunshine to come back.

GROWING APPETITE

Every summer, around 40 per cent of the UK's population bring out their barbecues.

Last year, Britons enjoyed 120 million barbecues, making the UK the barbecue capital of Europe, according to the National Barbecue Association.

Sales of barbecues were up 78 per cent year-on-year in April 2010.

The barbecue is thought to have originated in the Caribbean, where gratings of wood were placed over a slow fire to cook strips of meat.