Hart District Council are asking residents to take care when disposing of small electricals and batteries following two fires in five days in bin collection vehicles in Hart.
On Monday 20 July, a serious incident resulted in over three tonnes of household waste being ejected onto the road in Yateley so it could be extinguished by the fire service. Hampshire Fire and Rescue believe the fire was caused by a bag of electrical items found within the load.
Just four days earlier, on Thursday 16 July, a laptop battery thrown in a recycling bin caused a small fire in a collection vehicle in Fleet as the material was compacted. A crew supervisor acted quickly to retrieve the battery before the fire spread further. Lithium-ion batteries, such as those found in laptops are believed to be the cause of around six fires across the UK waste sector every day.
Thanks to the quick reactions of the crew and fire service, both fires were extinguished quickly with no injuries. However, disposing of batteries and small electricals in waste or recycling bins puts our crews at risk, and risks damage to our vehicles and disruption to our service.
Councillor Alan Oliver, Hart District Council Portfolio Holder for Waste Services said: “Residents rely on our waste and recycling collections to dispose of their household rubbish. Bin fires put our crews at risk and cause disruption to the service we provide so we’d urge everyone to take care when throwing out electrical items.
“Most people are responsibly disposing of their items, but these two incidents are not the first fires we have seen locally caused by small electricals or other inappropriate items in bins. We’d urge everybody to use the small electricals collection service or other disposal points available locally for their electrical waste.”
Hart residents can use the weekly small electricals recycling service to dispose of items from the kerbside as well as recycling points around the district. Any small electrical items with a plug, battery or cable that fit in a standard carrier bag can be left out, such as:
- kettles
- small toasters
- hair dryers
- hand blenders
- cables
- phones
- vapes and e-cigarettes
- fairy lights
- small toys
This bag should be left on top of the waste or recycling bin, and anything collected is stored separately on the collection vehicle.
While this service is not suitable for loose batteries, these can be returned to most places that sell them for safe disposal. As well as preventing bin fires, recycling old electricals also gives a new lease of life to valuable materials hidden within.
For more information please visit our small electricals collections page.