Putting dangerous items in bins puts real people in danger.
Certain items are dangerous if they are placed in household bins. Vapes, electrical items, batteries, and gas (Nox) canisters can all cause fires and explosions, putting real people in danger and impacting vital recycling and waste infrastructure.
Learn more about the dangers of putting them in the wrong bin and how you can make a positive impact by recycling them correctly. If you’re not sure how to safely dispose of an item, visit www.recyclenow.com/recycling-locator to find safe recycling points near you.
Vapes:
When you put vapes in your household rubbish or recycling bins, you’re putting real people in danger.
When vapes are crushed, the lithium-ion batteries inside them become extremely flammable. This causes problems in collection vehicles as recycling or waste is crushed in the back of the vehicle to make space. If a fire breaks out in the back of the vehicle, both the collection crew and the general public are put in danger until the fire is extinguished. It also slows down the collection service and causes traffic on roads.
You might not realise that vapes also pose a fire risk at Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), the place recycling is taken to be sorted after it’s collected from your house. At MRFs, recycling is sorted before being crushed into bales that are then taken to other facilities to be turned into new materials or products.
If a vape is mixed in with other recycling it could cause a fire during the baling process. This puts the people working in the MRF in direct danger and also renders the other recyclable material in the bale non-recyclable.
If you need to dispose of used vapes, stay safe and get rid of them by taking them back to where you bought them.
Electrical Items:
When you put electrical items into your household recycling or waste bins you could be responsible for fires or explosions that put the people who manage your waste in direct danger.
Electronic items like mobile phones, laptops, or any item with a battery, plug, or cable can be recycled but they must be handled safely or they can cause fires and explosions that put real people in danger. This is because they contain hidden batteries, including lithium-ion batteries that are extremely flammable when crushed or damaged.
Just like vapes, electrical items can cause fires in the back of collection vehicles or at recycling facilities during the sorting process, putting real people in danger of burns, chemical exposure, and smoke inhalation - injuries that can be life-changing.
Did you know that lithium-ion battery fires create their own oxygen which means they can reignite and even cause explosions? This means fires can spread further and burn for longer, putting more people in more danger.
Visit www.recyclenow.com/recycling-locator to learn more and find a dedicated recycling point near you.
Batteries:
Batteries are a major cause of fires in recycling and waste facilities, impacting infrastructure and putting real people in danger.
Last year there were over 1,200 preventable battery fires in the waste industry across the UK. Batteries become flammable when crushed and so they become a hazard as soon as they’re collected from your house if you put them in your general waste or recycling bins. This includes small batteries, from AAs to AAAs, to the hidden batteries you might find in watches, children's toys, and electrical toothbrushes.
Fires in collection vehicles and recycling and waste facilities put real people at risk and can spread rapidly, putting operatives, firefighters, and the general public at the risk of burns, chemical exposure, and smoke inhalation.
Batteries also contain very valuable materials that can be extracted and used again when they’re recycled properly, making it even more important that they’re disposed of responsibly.
Finding your nearest battery recycling point at: www.recyclenow.com/recycling-locator
Gas Bottles:
Throwing gas bottles like Nox canisters into your household recycling or waste bins can cause explosions and fires.
Gas bottles can cause explosions when they’re crushed, even when they’re empty. If this happens in the back of a collection vehicle, at a recycling sorting facility, or at an energy recovery facility handling waste, it can cause serious injury to the people working there who deliver an essential service to the community.
Did you know that even though Nitrous oxide can’t burn as a fuel, it can act as an oxidiser? This means that it can make fires burn hotter, faster, and more intensely which puts people at an increased risk of injury and can cause damage to recycling infrastructure.
If you need to dispose of gas bottles, check your local council’s website to see if they are accepted at your local Household Reuse and Recycling Centre.
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