Does burning joss paper pollute the air? An honest answer, and how to burn with less smoke

First, where we stand. We run a service that burns offerings on people’s behalf, so we have an interest here whichever way this article goes. That is why every statement below about pollution links to its source, with dates, so you can check it yourself. We are not going to tell you not to burn, and we are not going to pretend burning is smoke-free.

What does burning joss paper actually release?

Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department opens its page on joss paper and paper artifacts burning with this line: “Burning paper offerings may lead to air nuisance and pollution complaints.” (Page last revised 29 November 2024; we checked it on 26 September 2026.)

A Taipei City Department of Environmental Protection press release of 21 August 2023 names particulate matter, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds.

A Taipei Times report of 22 August 2025, explaining why Taiwan’s Ministry of Environment promotes gentler ways of burning, mentions carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, benzene and PM2.5 in the reporter’s own words.

So the first answer is simple: it does release pollutants. There is no arguing with that, and we will not pretend otherwise. Burning makes smoke, and joss paper is paper.

How big is the effect, and is that the same as your one packet?

We found two studies with public abstracts. Both measured festival periods, with many people burning at once:

• A team at National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan studied a large-scale festival burning event, measuring at a temple site and a background site at the same time; the abstract reports total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) about 4.2 times the ordinary-period level (5,384 vs 1,275 ng/m³) (Lin et al., Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2008).
• A team at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore analysed rainwater and PM2.5 samples collected during the Hungry Ghost Festival. Many elements were 18% to 60% higher in August and September than the yearly mean (Khezri et al., Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 2015).

Scale matters too. In August 2025, Taiwan’s Minister of Environment said more than 200,000 tonnes of joss paper are burned in Taiwan every year (same Taipei Times report). That volume is what governments are responding to.

And your one packet, burned at home? Honestly, we could not find a study that measures what one household burning one packet does. So we will not tell you it is “negligible”, and we will not tell you it is “a lot”. Neither claim has evidence behind it.

For both studies we read the published abstracts; we have not read the full papers. The figures are exactly as the abstracts state them.

If you burn it yourself, how do you keep the smoke down?

The good news is that the official advice for people making offerings is practical, and covers both smoke and fire safety. Here are four points that apply to burning it yourself, each with its source:

• Burn small amounts at a time: Singapore’s National Environment Agency, in a Qingming advisory of 25 February 2026 for visitors to Singapore’s government-run cemeteries and columbaria: “Burn joss paper in small quantities to reduce ash dispersal.”
• Use a designated burner or metal bin if there is one: The same advisory asks people to use the designated burners. Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, in a press release of 21 March 2025 (Chinese), asks people, to prevent hill fires, to burn offerings inside a burning pot or metal bucket.
• Keep away from homes, and mind the wind: Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department, in an FAQ (last revised 26 May 2025), tells estate management that burners “should be far away from residents” and that they should “take into account the wind direction as well as the surroundings”.
• Stay with it, and put it out before you go: The Singapore advisory says not to leave lit candles, joss sticks and joss paper unattended at any time. The Hong Kong release says never to leave offerings still burning, and to make sure every flame is out before leaving.

The third point was written for building management, not for individuals. But the idea carries over: when you pick a spot, think about where the smoke will drift. That last sentence is our own common-sense suggestion, not official wording.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Environment calls a similar idea “burning an appropriate amount” (適量燒): using larger-denomination, better-quality joss paper so that less is burned in the first place (announced 22 July 2024, Chinese).

As for the burner itself: Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department recommends that temples, crematoria and similar premises that cannot avoid burning on site use furnaces with an electrostatic precipitator and water scrubber to remove the smoke and ash flakes (same EPD page as above). In other words, what you burn it in makes a difference.

If you live outside Hong Kong: whether you can burn at all comes first, and smoke comes second. Our article on the rules abroad sets out four steps to check your own city, and the apartment article covers why a balcony rarely solves it.

Is burning less, or not at all, a lesser offering?

We have no standard answer for how much is enough. Families differ, and your family decides which way it goes.

What we can say is that burning less, or not burning, has been put forward officially by governments, and some Buddhist teachers question burning altogether. It is not you cutting corners:

• Taiwan’s Ministry of Environment promotes “replacement burning”, including 以功代金, “merit in place of money”: as we understand it, donating what you would have spent on joss paper to charity.
• Hong Kong’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, in its 2026 Qingming notice for Tsang Tsui Columbarium (Chinese), encourages flowers, electronic forms of remembrance and smokeless incense and candles.
• Some Buddhist teachers, for example Master Sheng Yen, take a different view of burning paper offerings from folk practice. Our article on how Buddhist, Taoist and folk traditions differ covers it (in Chinese).

A photograph, a cup of tea and a few words is still an offering. The article on ancestor worship at home has a version with no fire at all.

Is paying someone to burn it for you pollution-free?

No. A packet burned on your behalf is still burned; the fire has simply moved from where you are to Hong Kong. We are not going to blur that.