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Go green when you BBQ

New charcoal that cooks up cleaner air - just in time for your Memorial Day weekend

by Jason Boyer, KWGN News

May 14, 2008

For many, grilling is a Memorial Day tradition.

"We're just a few weeks away from Memorial Day and there'll be 63 million people doing the same thing," said Tom Mahowald with Nature's Grilling Products in Louisville, Colorado.

According to the Hearth Patio and Barbeque Association, 50 percent of all grills are charcoal grills. But using these grills pollutes our air with smoke and chemicals.

Mahowald said there's a better choice. "That's all our briquettes are is real wood and one-percent food binders."

Different from other charcoal briquettes, said Mahowald, because their product doesn't use any mineral coal or synthetic materials, which can give off harmful greenhouse gases.

"Kingsford, or somebody like a Kingsford, puts additional things that you definitely don't want to have in there, anything from borax, to sodium nitrates, to anthracite coal," added Mahowald.

Although the more natural briquettes burn much cleaner than the traditional charcoal, some say burning either one of them still has an impact on the air we breathe.

Cindy Liverance with the American Lung Association said, "The particulate matter is going to get into your lungs and affect your airways and your tissues."

But Liverance said not using traditional charcoal is the better choice. "The regular briquettes do give off additional gases, so this new product that you're talking about that's all-natural is going to be a healthier way to go."

The wood that is used to produce the briquettes Nature's Grilling Products uses, is pruned or culled from trees in Mexico. Even though the company doesn't cut down any trees, Mahowald said it's going the extra 'green' mile.

"We're doing a number of other things, too, to protect the environment, including a large-scale tree planting program where we're putting in a million trees around the equatorial regions of the planet."

According to Mahowald, eliminating 53 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. So before you fire up that grill, you can lessen your impact on the environment and your health by using wood-based charcoals.