Six crews from Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service attended the Battlefield site at 17:49 on Wednesday (14 October 2026).
The fire service said crews extinguished the fire involving recycling waste using six breathing apparatus sets, two hose-reel jets and a main jet. A thermal imaging camera was also used.
All persons were accounted for and no injuries were reported.
A Veolia spokesperson said: “An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway, initial evidence indicates that the fire was caused by a lithium-ion battery incorrectly placed in a bin.”
The company urged people to dispose of batteries separately at dedicated recycling points, such as household recycling centres or large supermarkets.
“Disposing of these items correctly greatly reduces the risk of fires, protecting both our colleagues and the infrastructure behind essential waste services.”
Battlefield recycling site
Veolia confirmed a £70 million investment in July 2025 to convert a disused industrial facility at Battlefield, near Shrewsbury, into a high-capacity plastics sorting and recycling plant.
The site is designed to process 80,000 tonnes of plastic annually and is expected to create more than 130 permanent jobs, in addition to those required during construction. Operations are scheduled to begin in 2026.
The development will include what Veolia described as the UK’s first dedicated tray-to-tray closed-loop PET recycling facility.
The plant will process post-consumer PET1 trays and bottles, converting them into food-grade flake for use in new packaging, primarily for the UK grocery and food manufacturing sectors.
Fires in the waste and recycling sector
The incident comes amid continued concern over fires at waste and recycling facilities across the UK and Ireland, with operators and fire services reporting persistent incidents involving mixed waste and recyclable materials.
Metals facilities are particularly at risk with industry bodies including the Environmental Services Association (ESA) warning that battery-related fires – particularly those linked to improperly disposed lithium-ion batteries – are now occurring at what they describe as “epidemic levels”.
Batteries present a severe fire risk when they are crushed or otherwise improperly managed and should be disposed of via specialist battery bins, which can be found in supermarkets.
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