UK recycling centres face £1bn annual cost from lithium battery fires
More than 10 fires weekly at waste facilities caused by wrongly discarded batteries in vapes, phones and toys.
What to know
- More than 10 lithium battery fires occur weekly at UK recycling centres, driven by improper disposal of batteries in vapes, phones, toys and toothbrushes.
- The crisis costs £1 billion annually and puts worker and facility safety at risk, according to experts.
- Fire chiefs are frustrated by the surge; the exponential growth correlates with increased consumer use of battery-powered disposable devices.
Vapes should be subject to stronger regulation or bans given their contribution to battery fire crises.
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“Why haven't vapes been banned?”
kim_harding · Mastodon
“There has been exponential increase in fires at recycling centres, mainly because we are using and discarding lithium batteries in everyday objects like smartphones, children's toys, toothbrushes and vapes.”
junesim63, Mastodon user · Mastodon
UK fire chiefs waste facility safety officialsExperts (unnamed) battery and waste safety analysts
The record 4 articles and posts · last 30 days
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What people are saying 1 voices from 1 site · best of 2 · verbatim
- Aug 26
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R
Disposable devices that include batteries are an abomination. I feel bad enough about AirPods, and I've had my current set for >3 years — but people are throwing out vapes with built-in lithium-ion batteries, causing fires at recycling centres which cost the UK alone £1bn a year. What are we even doing? https://www. theguardian.com/environment/20…