Only consent Brussels There is no need for quality and briquette norms to come into force in Poland. Pellets, i.e. granules made of pressed pieces of wood, are fuel growing for popularity for heating houses. Although it is used by hundreds of people, in contrast to, for example, there were no quality requirements.
– From the beginning we were seeking to introduce these standards – Piotr Sergei, spokesman for the Polish Smog Alarm told us.
– We had a lot of reports from citizens about selling a contaminated pellets, e.g. with plastic. We were even getting samples in which you could see the colorful pieces of plastics embedded in pellets
– said Sergei. Waste burning, as he emphasized, not only pollutes air, but also is an offense. Pas spokesman reported that there were also reports of the production of pellets using the remains of chipboard, which contain adhesives and other substances that must not be burned.
The Polish authorities had to deal with this problem also because the introduction of standards for a pellet was one of the obligations of the necessary fulfillment to receive EU funds from the national reconstruction plan.
On the other hand, as Adam Sarnaszek, president of the Polish Pellet Council argues – many large Polish producers have already introduced certification of their pellets, so he still meets future standards. Certificates were needed, among others due to fuel exports. – We are pleased with the fact that standards will be introduced. But for many producers it will not be a change – he said.
Consumers can feel it positively. Each pellets sold – even without certificates – will have to meet the minimum quality requirements. According to Sarnaszek, this will facilitate any fuel complaints from those manufacturers who have not used any certificates yet.
Norms for the pellet for the next season
The Ministry of Climate and Environment has completed a draft regulation on quality requirements for a briquette or a pellet in January. At the beginning of February, he was sent to notification to the European Commission. Officials in Brussels will check the project and if they have no comments on it, the regulation will enter into force in May, so it will apply to the next heating season.
For companies, it means that the pellets meet the minimum requirements for, among others moisture, ash, nitrogen or chlorine content, as well as the size and heating value. This should make sure that they do not buy fuel that can emit a lot of dangerous substances when burning.
During the consultation of the regulation, the social side raised doubts as to whether the standards would really be able to be enforced by the monitoring and quality control system. In response to our questions, the Ministry of the Climate assured that it is already working on it – changes regarding control are to be proposed in the amendment to the relevant act. It is to introduce, among others The obligation to issue quality certificates of these fuels by producers, as well as the rules for the UOKiK control and trade inspections.
Sarnaszek said that unless the regulation is a significant change for “honest producers”, it can seriously affect the gray zone and import. The industry hopes that the introduction of standards will allow appropriate services to control the imported pellets – and it's not only about quality, but also potential origin from the countries covered by sanctions, which “spoils the market”. In 2022, an embargo was introduced, among others on pellets from Russia, but There is evidence of cases of avoiding sanctions and bringing Russian fuel to EU countries.
Does the pellets pollute?
The pellets are promoted as a better alternative to the environment and human health for old, non -class stoves on coal. As part of the Government Clean Air program, you can get funding for the exchange of so -called “Cinderella”, including just for a cauldron for pellets. However, does burning pieces of wood really limit pollution?
Just burning wood (e.g. on an open hearth) emits a lot of substances dangerous to health – which can be easily convinced when the smoke from the fire breaks in our face. In smoke with wood burning, there may be solid particles – the main component of smog – as well as nitrogen compounds, sulfur and other dangerous substances. In home conditions, there is practically no chance of completely eliminating these emissions, but you can significantly minimize when we burn good quality fuel in the right way.
According to data, which the International Energy Agency quotessmoking with wood in a simple fireplace releases between 140 and 225 grams of particles per thermal energy unit. Already a modern fireplace improves it to 46 – 90 grams, and for a modern pellet boiler it will be between 3 and 29 grams. To maximally reduce the emission of harmful substances, it is necessary to burn fuel in the right way.
Carbon dioxide emissions are a separate issue. CO2 from a chimney does not pose a direct health threat, just like solid particles and other substances forming smog, but it is the main greenhouse gas. Its largest source is the burning of fossil fuels, i.e. coal and gas. Smoking with wood does not add a “new” CO2 to the atmosphere, because the trees previously absorbed it from the air. The problem is that what the tree has consumed for decades, we burn in one heating season. From a climate point of view, wood is not an ideal solution. On the other hand, smoking is just a fraction of how much we emits from coal, oil and gas. In addition, pellets are made largely from wood rainfall (chips, cuttings, sawdust) formed in the production of e.g. construction wood. The use of leftovers instead of cutting trees especially on fuel also minimizes the effect on the climate – it is different if the trees are cut especially for burning.
The pellets will increase?
According to the data quoted by the Ministry of the Climate, there were about 250,000 in Poland in the middle of last year. Addresses that declared wood pellets as an exclusive heat source (and as much as 1.2 million are only piece wood burning farms). In addition, over 83 thousand Addresses were declared by the pellet boiler as one of the heat sources (e.g. next to the gas stove).
The popularity of the pellet is growing. The Polish Smog Alarm runs the Clean Air counter and data in it show that while in mid -2023 about 60 percent. The applications were about co -financing the heat pump (and only a dozen or so – biomass, including a pellet), we have recently dealt with a completely different situation. The proportions reversed and at the end of 2024, biomass boilers were over 50 percent. applications, and heat pumps – in about 25 percent
– In my opinion, this change resulted from the fact that there were a lot of articles with so -called “horror accounts” on farms that have a heat pump – said Sergei. But these “horror bills” were the result of the operation of dishonest companies, poor quality devices mounted in buildings that were not suitable for this. Because – as the spokesman Pas says – the heat pump is the cheapest form of heating. Show it New research conducted by the organization. “Heating the heat pump is still cheap, even at current current prices,” he said.
The belt regularly publishes its estimates CostThis heating of houses. According to the latest data for the first quarter of 2025, the pellets are half the rate. The most expensive is heating for heating oil and gas earth – 11 and almost 10 thousand respectively zloty. Good quality (ekoprojekt) cauldron on pellets means over 7,000 zloty. The cheapest heating is the heat pump – although a lot depends on the type of device and heating itself. The costs on the chart below were counted for the home in the medium insulation standard – in the case of a house without insulation, they are higher for each category.
Sergei also said that the price of a pellet can increase – not necessarily in connection with new standards, but by not following the supply for demand. Because pellets are produced primarily from production rainfall, sawdust and cutting. There are about 2 million old boilers or more in Poland. Even if only some of them are replaced with pellet, the demand for this fuel will increase several times. Meanwhile, the Polish wood industry will not grow by 100 or 200 percent anymore, so that the amount of waste intended for pellets will grow with it. This could lead to price increases.
Sarnaszek from the pellet council also notes that the demand for pellets is growing – Poland was primarily an exporter some time ago, now the production covers primarily the internal market, and in the future imports can grow. But For this reason, the industry organization does not expect that fuel for consumers will increase. – Prices in Poland are not only to our country, but to the entire region – he said and explained that in this connection the growing demand should not affect the rapidly to travel of this fuel. If domestic production is too small, then there are many pellets exporting countries in our region.
According to Sarnaszek, in the long term, more and more imports can be a problem for Polish producers, because with rising costs and low margins – not allowing investments – it will be more and more difficult to compete with imported goods.