Battery fires cause concern for Hamilton City Council

This truck caught fire in Melville in February after a vape battery was wrongly put in a recycling bin. Photo / Hamilton City Council

Discarded lithium batteries from vapes, laptops and other devices have sparked multiple fires in Hamilton this year, prompting a warning from the Hamilton City Council.

The most recent fires broke out at the Lincoln St Resource Recovery Centre early this month and another was about two weeks earlier. One fire was caused by a vape battery and the other a laptop battery, said the council’s sustainable resource recovery unit manager Tania Hermann. The fires were quickly spotted and extinguished.

The offending rubbish bags had been taken to the resource recovery centre by members of the public who had paid to dump them with their general rubbish, despite the fact the free battery and electrical goods disposal bin there.

Lithium batteries can catch fire or explode when the bags are compressed in the kerbside collection truck or as they are compacted at the Resource Recovery Centre.

Lithium batteries from vapes have been the main culprit over the past nine months, but lithium batteries from smart phones, e-scooters, laptops, portable phone chargers, electric toothbrushes and other devices posed the same risk.

The last two fires, on top of the three in May, June and July, were concerning, Hermann said.

“Disposing of batteries in bags or kerbside bins puts people at risk, it’s very dangerous and we need to be doing better. We understand a big deterrent for people to dispose of them properly is having to go out of their way.”

Hermann said residents can talk to their vape supplier about in-store battery disposal systems. The council provides a free battery and electrical waste disposal bin at the Resource Recovery Centre – along with free household recycling, glass and hazardous waste disposal.

“If people are dropping their rubbish at the Resource Recovery Centre, we recommend keeping the batteries out and dropping them in the bin for free in the recycling section of the facility. It’s as easy as that.”

She encouraged organisations and businesses to start their own battery disposal bins and have staff take turns dropping them off to the Resource Recovery Centre.

“There’s lots of solutions to this. People just have to be willing to take an extra step to dispose of batteries in a safe way rather than causing a fire that could seriously injure someone.

“No one wants that on their conscience. Please take a second to think if there is another way - it really could be the difference between life and death.”