South East binned nearly 164 million batteries last year, leading to huge increase in fire risk

Conducted by Recycle Your Electricals and the National Fire Chiefs Council as part of the Stop the Battery Fires Campaign, the research revealed that, in the last 12 months, West Sussex Fire and Rescue has attended at least four incidents where the likely or confirmed cause is the failure of a lithium-ion battery. This includes three dust-cart fires which resulted from a battery being disposed into general waste, meaning all three could have been avoided entirely if the batteries were properly recycled.

Two other fires broke out on the same day, February 28, in Horsham, in fact, and both were attributed to lithium-ion batteries. The fires both started in bin lorries, having been incorrectly disposed of in general waste.

One blaze was likely caused by the battery in a string of fairy lights going into a state of thermal runaway, which was exacerbated by several other non-recyclable items. Although the fire service managed to extinguish this fire in half an hour, the second fire took over three hours of hard fighting to contain.

In a bid to stop further incidents like these, both Recycle Your Electricals and the National Fire Chiefs Council are fighting to raise awareness of the importance of recycling electricals and batteries.

Darren Wickings, Station Manager for Policy for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, says lithium-ion battery fires are a growing issue across the region, and the UK: “Submersion, exposure to heat or mechanical damage can cause a lithium-ion battery to go into thermal runaway. This is an uncontrollable event that causes large quantities of highly toxic, flammable vapours to be produced in seconds, before catching fire. The resulting fire is extremely fierce and will develop rapidly, as more battery cells become involved. Depending on the size and number of batteries involved, a lithium-ion battery fire can burn for several hours.”

Scott Butler, Executive Director of Recycle Your Electricals, added: “With more and more products containing lithium-ion batteries, and battery fires on the rise, it's vital that we stop these fires and reduce the air pollution impact that they have on our local communities and the dangers they present to fire fighters and waste officers.”