Never mind carbon emissions.

Every year, the people of Scheveningen in the Netherlands hold not one but two mega bonfires to usher in the new year.

Residents on both sides of the Scheveningen Harbour - those on the North beach and their southern neighbours on Duindorp - will compete for the bragging rights of creating the biggest bonfire in the whole country.

The event, which takes place from Dec 27 to 31, begins with volunteers erecting a tower of wooden pallets (above), which will be lit at around midnight on New Year's Eve to usher in the new year in a blaze of glory.

Last year, the pallet stack on the beach at Duindorp went into the Guinness record books as the "largest bonfire" in the world.

The woodpile had a volume of 4,284 cubic metres and comprised some 30,000 pallets.