The Isle of Wight Council and Amey have issued a safety reminder after a household battery caused a bin lorry fire in Shanklin last week.
It has been revealed that a damaged battery placed incorrectly in a recycling bin caused a small fire.
The driver alerted emergency services after he noticed smoke and flames coming from the back of the vehicle, at Atherley Road, last Thursday.
Although the battery collection service has been a great success, the Isle of Wight Council is reminding residents of the importance of separating your used household batteries.
Natasha Dix, strategic manager for environment, said:
“An incident like this shows how important it is to make sure you separate your used batteries from the rest of your waste and recycling.
“They are only collected on your general (black bin/gull sack) waste week. Used batteries must not be placed in with the rest of your waste.
“They need to go in a separate clear small bag and placed clearly on top of your closed bin or sack. This is so the crew can see them and can place them safely away from the rest of the waste in the bespoke battery section on the trucks.
Article continues below this advertisement “Luckily no-one was injured. I would like to praise the quick reaction of the collection crew and the fire service. It could have been so much worse.”
How to use the battery collection scheme safely:
- Place your spent household batteries safely and separately in their own clear sandwich-sized bag.
- Leave the clear bag containing the batteries on top (not inside) of your general waste (black bins/black gull-proof sacks) on your general waste collection week.
- All the batteries collected by the crews are placed in a special box fitted to the collection vehicles and sent for sorting and processing.
- Metals and chemicals are removed and used to make new batteries and other products.
Councillor Karen Lucioni, Cabinet member for waste and public protection, said:
“Batteries thrown into ordinary bins, household waste or with other recycling are dangerous.
“They can easily get squashed, compacted, punctured, shredded, or soaked in liquids. When this happens, they can ignite, as happened recently.
“This can lead to fires that endanger lives, cause expensive damage and disrupt waste services.”
I never knew you could put them in a bag on top of the bin. Iv been talking them to the shops and using the recycling battery container
Yes, this has started just recently.
You can’t educate stupid.
Is that you?
Why don’t you mention disposable vapes as they contain a lithium battery?
Some people don’t care what they place in the black bags. Some people don’t even make any effort to recycle at all. These people should be made to pay more Council Tax because they can’t be bothered to recycle correctly and obviously don’t care about the environment and what goes into landfill
Everything goes in my black bin, I use the green one to store what dosnt fit in it to be wheel up the garden and burnt!! Job done, just doing my bit for the planet not driving up the tip
I put everything in my black bin, anything that won’t fit gets put in the green one and wheel up the garden and burnt! Just doing my bit for the planet to save driving up the tip.
Try looking at just how much of the contents of the recycling bin ACTUALLY gets recycled. Like all cults and religions, the truth is often far removed from the scripture. Largely one big con to make the weak feel better about themselves and their life choices.
Whoever put the batteries in the waste needs charging!⚡️⚡️
oh for Gods sake. How long has this new battery scheme been in place and how many DECADES have we managed before it without dozens of wagons going up in flames day after day?? Sometimes sh*te just happens. I’m surprised the environmentalists haven’t claimed this incident as proof of global warming. And if it is such proof of support for Natties new scheme then why did she take so long to introduce it???