News-Latest fires in bin lorries prompts vape and battery disposal plea

We are asking people to make sure vapes and batteries are not put in rubbish or recycling bins, following four fires this year, including two inside the last month.

The incidents, at Sedgefield and Wolsingham, take the total number since 2019/20 to 12. In addition, three fires have broken out in waste at our waste transfer stations since the beginning of April, due to inappropriate items being discarded in the waste.

Cllr Mark Wilkes, our Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and climate change, said: "The recent incidents were the latest in a number of fires which have started in our bin lorries because of people putting vapes and batteries in their rubbish or recycling bins.

"Where they do this and the vapes and batteries inadvertently end up in the bin lorry, they can get crushed. This can cause batteries, including those inside the vapes, to overheat and, in some cases, leak lithium which is highly flammable. When batteries that are overheating and also leaking lithium are mixed with so much combustible material, the risks of fire are very high.

"Thankfully we haven't seen any injuries to our bin crews to date, but there is clearly the potential for our staff to be at risk if further fires occur."

We have the backing of County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue.

Allan Hobson, Community Safety Manager at the service, said: "Fires at waste sites or in vehicles can often be difficult to extinguish.

"As waste is compacted and bulked together, there are plenty of flammable materials which allow fire to spread quickly. Extinguishing these types of fires is often time consuming, disruptive to the highways network and involves a multi-agency approach.

"Please, dispose of vapes and batteries correctly and safely to help keep our firefighters, partner agency workers and communities safe."

Cllr Wilkes added: "The impacts of the fires we've had so far are many. There is the environmental impact of the fires in terms of pollution, the loss of materials that could have been recycled and the fact we have to sometimes empty the contents of the lorries in public places when fires start to prevent the whole vehicle catching fire.

"There's also the impact on residents as fires can affect our collection services, and cause delays for motorists when roads have to be closed.

"There's also potential for fires to impact on our resources as bin lorries are expensive vehicles and any replacement or repairs needed as a result of damage caused would come at a substantial cost.

"Thankfully the damage caused so far has been minimal in most cases, thanks to the quick thinking of our crews who have tipped burning waste before any serious damage could occur."

We run a recycling scheme for small electricals, offering easily accessible recycling for small electrical items, vapes and batteries in County Durham through collection points in community venues.

This scheme offers 161 small 'Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)' recycling points in community venues and primary schools, and 75 vape recycling points in community venues.

Cllr Wilkes continued: "It is really easy to dispose of batteries and vapes the right way, so we would ask people to please make sure they do so and not to put them in their bins. Even if you think a battery is dead, it could still start a fire.

"Batteries can be taken to recycling pods at most supermarkets and community venues, and you can take vapes and batteries to any of our household waste recycling centres."