According to Greater Cambridge Shared Waste, a partnership between Cambridge city council and South Cambridge district council, lithium-ion batteries have caused several fires in the back of bin lorries since January including recent incidents involving bin lorry fires in Great Shelford and on the edge of Orchard Park / King’s Hedges in Cambridge.
The council has said vapes should be returned to vape shops or large household recycling centres, such as those at Milton or Thriplow, for recycling. Larger batteries, including those from e-bikes, mobile phones, and laptops, must also be taken to a household recycling centre.
It also highlighted that small household batteries can be placed in a small plastic bag, tied shut, and left on top of any wheelie bin on collection day for kerbside recycling. Residents of flats with shared bins should not leave small household batteries on these but can instead take them to public battery collection points at corner shop chains, supermarkets, chemists, petrol stations, recycling points and household recycling centres.
Increase
Head of Greater Cambridge Shared Waste, Bode Esan, said: “We’re seeing an increasing number of fires in the back of our trucks, and most are caused by batteries being put into wheelie bins. The compacting process in the back of bin lorries can easily crush and split batteries – which go on to ignite or even cause an explosion.
“Whenever a fire breaks out in the back of one of our trucks, our crews are put in danger as they must rapidly find a safe place to unload the recycling or waste to stop the fire engulfing the lorry. Any member of the public around the vehicle is of course also put at risk. We’re hugely grateful to Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue for their prompt assistance on many recent occasions but we should all do our bit to prevent them being needed.”
Prevented
Station commander, Gareth Boyd from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, added: “We wholeheartedly support the message to dispose of batteries safely and not throw in household bins. We are seeing an increase across the county of fires in waste collection trucks and these fires can be easily prevented by residents and businesses disposing of batteries correctly and separately from household waste. If our crews are attending these fires, it will delay us attending a house fire or other emergency where someone’s life could be in danger.”
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